Drone-augmented emergency response services

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on storage devices, for drone-augmented emergency response services. In one aspect, a monitoring system, comprising: a plurality of monitoring control units, and a monitoring application server, wherein the monitoring application server includes a network interface, one or more processors, and one or more storage devices that include instructions to perform operations. The operations include receiving an emergency event notification from a first monitoring control unit of the plurality of monitoring control units, determining a type of emergency event, and a location associated with the emergency event notification, identifying one or more drones that can be deployed to the location associated with the emergency event, and transmitting an instruction to a monitoring station server associated with a drone base station to deploy the one or more identified drones to the location associated with the emergency event.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of the U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/235,045 filed Sep. 30, 2015 and entitled“Drone-Augmented Emergency Response Services,” which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to monitoring technology using drone devices.

BACKGROUND

Security companies often provide security services to residential andcommercial properties which include monitoring the properties for alarmevents that may include security breaches, floods, fires, or carbonmonoxide poisoning. The properties may include a security panel thatcommunicates alarm signal information to a monitoring applicationserver, which transmits a signal to dispatch emergency responders inresponse to detecting the presence of an alarm event.

SUMMARY

Techniques are described for drone-augmented emergency responseservices. In some implementations, a drone base station housing one ormore drones may be associated with a particular neighborhood. The dronebase station may deploy one or more drones to the neighborhoodresponsive to instructions from a monitoring application server. Theapplication monitoring server may detect the need for drones atparticular properties throughout a neighborhood based on alarm datareceived from one or more monitoring control units referred to as anevent notification. Event notifications may include data indicative of avariety of events including security events, emergency events, or thelike. The event notifications may collectively be referred to as alarmevent notifications.

According to at least one aspect of the subject matter disclosed by thisspecification, a method, system, and apparatus, including computerprograms encoded on storage devices are disclosed for implementingdrone-augmented emergency response services. In some aspects, amonitoring system may include a plurality of monitoring control units,wherein each respective monitoring control unit is (i) associated with aparticular property, and (ii) configured to detect an emergency eventbased on data received from one or more of a plurality of sensorslocated throughout the particular property, and a monitoring applicationserver. The monitoring application server may include a networkinterface, one or more processors, and one or more storage devices thatinclude instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, to cause the one or more processors to perform operations.In some implementations, the operations may include receiving anemergency event notification from a first monitoring control unit of theplurality of monitoring control units, determining, based on thereceived emergency event notification, (i) a type of emergency event,and (ii) a location associated with the emergency event notification,identifying, based on (i) the type of emergency event, and (ii) thelocation associated with the emergency event, at least one drone thatcan be deployed to the location associated with the emergency event, andtransmitting an instruction to a monitoring station server associatedwith a drone base station housing (i) the at least one drone that can bedeployed to the location of the emergency event, and (ii) one or morecharging stations for charging the at least one drone, wherein theinstruction instructs the monitoring station server to deploy the one ormore identified drones to the location associated with the emergencyevent. In some aspects, the at least one drone includes a plurality ofdrones.

These and other versions each may optionally include one or more of thefollowing features. For instance, the plurality of drones may include ahelicopter drone, a rolling helicopter drone, or a land-based vehicle.Alternatively, or in addition, the plurality of drones may include aquad-copter drone.

In some aspects, the operations may include determining one or moredrone capabilities that are related to the type of emergency event. Insuch instances, identifying, based on (i) the type of emergency event,and (ii) the location associated with the emergency event, one or moredrones that can be deployed to the location associated with theemergency event may include identifying one or more drones that areequipped with capabilities to respond to the emergency event. In someimplementations, at least one of the identified drones is a drone thatis currently deployed. Alternatively, or in addition, at least one ofthe identified drones is a drone that is currently housed by the dronebase station.

In some aspects, identifying, based on (i) the type of emergency event,and (ii) the location associated with the emergency event, one or moredrones that can be deployed to the location associated with theemergency event includes identifying, based on the location associatedwith the emergency event, one or more drones that are within a thresholddistance of the location associated with the emergency event.

In some aspects, identifying one or more drones that can be deployedbased on the state of the monitoring system. The state of the monitoringsystem may be based on (i) the number of emergency event notificationsreceived from the particular property and (ii) the number of emergencyevent notifications received from properties within a threshold distancefrom the particular property.

In some aspects, the emergency event notification may be based on alarmsignal data from one or more sensors indicating an alarm event has beendetected in a property where the first monitor control unit is located.The one or more sensors may include one or more of power sensors, smokesensors, temperature sensors, or water sensors.

In some aspects, the operations may include receiving a request todeploy an additional drone from one or more deployed drones, and inresponse to receiving a request to deploy an additional drone from theone or more deployed drones, instructing the monitoring station serverto deploy one or more additional drones currently based at the dronebase station. Alternatively, or in addition, the operations may includein response to receiving a request to deploy an additional drone fromthe one or more deployed drones, instructing one or more currentlydeployed drones to re-deploy to the location associated with theemergency event.

In some aspects, the operations may include receiving a second emergencyevent notification from a second monitoring control unit of theplurality of monitoring control units, receiving a third emergency eventnotification from a third monitoring control unit of the plurality ofmonitoring control units, determining, based on the received secondemergency event notification, (i) a second type of emergency event, and(ii) a location associated with the second emergency event notification,determining based on the received third emergency event notification,(i) a third type of emergency event, and (ii) a location associated withthe third emergency event notification, wherein the location associatedwith the second emergency event is different than the locationassociated with the third emergency event.

In some aspects, the operations may include identifying, based on (i)the second type of emergency event, and (ii) the location associatedwith the second emergency event, a second set of one or more drones thatcan be deployed to the location associated with the second emergencyevent, and transmitting an instruction to the monitoring station serverto deploy the second set of one or more identified drones to thelocation associated with the emergency event.

In some aspects, the operations may include identifying, based on (i)the third type of emergency event, and (ii) the location associated withthe third emergency event, a third set of one or more drones that can bedeployed to the location associated with the third emergency event, andtransmitting an instruction to the monitoring station server to deploythe third set of one or more identified drones to the locationassociated with the emergency event.

In some aspects, the at least one charging station for charging the atleast one drone is deployable.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will beapparent from the description and drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a contextual diagram of an example of a community-based droneaugmented surveillance system that performs surveillance of aneighborhood.

FIG. 2 is a contextual diagram of an example of a community-based droneaugmented surveillance system that responds to one or more securityevents in a neighborhood.

FIG. 3 is a contextual diagram of an example of community-based droneaugmented surveillance system that responds to one or more emergencyevents in a neighborhood.

FIG. 4 is a contextual diagram of an example of a community-based droneaugmented surveillance system that gathers information regarding theroutines of residents in a neighborhood.

FIG. 5 is a contextual diagram of an example of community-based droneaugmented surveillance system that selectively monitors properties in aneighborhood based on user account settings.

FIG. 6A is a contextual diagram of multiple drone base stations thathouse multiple drones for performing community-based drone augmentedsurveillance of multiple neighborhoods.

FIG. 6B is a contextual diagram of multiple drone base stations residingwithin a single neighborhood that house drones for performingcommunity-based drone augmented surveillance of multiple neighborhoods.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a surveillance system that utilizes one ormore drones.

FIG. 8 is a contextual diagram of an example of a community-based droneaugmented surveillance system that performs surveillance of aneighborhood.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example of a process for deploying drones inresponse to a detection of a potential emergency event.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example of a process for deploying dronesin response to a detection of a potential event using informationindicative of common routines of the neighborhood residents.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an example of a process for deploying dronesin accordance with customized drone surveillance settings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Techniques are described for drone assistance in emergency responseservices. In some implementations, drone devices operate throughout aneighborhood of multiple properties to assist in responding to emergencyevent notifications detected by a monitoring application server. Inresponse to an emergency event notification, the drone devices mayidentify users of the property and provide assistance. In someinstances, the drone devices may additionally perform routinesurveillance operations and exchange data with security providerspreemptively to reduce the occurrence of subsequent emergency events.

In some implementations, drone devices may be used to augment emergencyresponse services in response to detecting an emergency event within aproperty. For example, a monitoring application server may receiveemergency event notifications based on alarm signal data associated witha property, determine a type of emergency and a property location basedon the received emergency event notification, determine that one or moredrone devices are within a threshold distance from the location, andtransmit a signal to a monitoring application server to deploy the oneor more drone devices to the property location.

FIG. 1 is a contextual diagram of an example of a community-based droneaugmented surveillance system 100 that performs surveillance of aneighborhood 110. The drone augmented surveillance system 100 includesmultiple monitor control units 112 a, 114 a, 116 a, a drone base station120, a monitoring application server 130, and a network 140.

The community-based drone augmented surveillance system 100 may beconfigured to perform surveillance operations of a neighborhood 110. Theneighborhood 110 may a particular geographic region that includesmultiple types of properties including residential properties 112, 114,commercial office buildings 116, or the like. In some instances, aneighborhood 110 may also include one or more public properties such asa park, a school, a university, government buildings, or the like. Oneor more properties in the neighborhood 110 may include a monitor controlunit such as, for example, a monitor control unit 112 a and one or moresensors.

A monitor control unit for a particular property such as 112 a may beconfigured to receive event notifications from one or more of thesensors associated with the particular property. In some instances, themonitor control unit may evaluate the received event notification todetermine whether the event notification is likely indicative of apotential security event, emergency event, or other type of alarm event.Alternatively, or in addition, the monitor control unit may relayreceived event notifications to a monitoring application server 130 viathe network 140. The monitor control unit may connect to the network 140using one or more wired, or wireless, communication links 142. Oncereceived, the monitoring application server 130 may analyze the receivedevent notifications to determine whether the event notification islikely indicative of a potential security event, emergency event, orother type of alarm event. Event notifications may include, for example,alarm signal data that is transmitted between any two components of analarm monitoring system. The components of an alarm monitoring systemmay include sensors, monitor control units, monitoring applicationservers, monitoring station servers, or the like.

The monitor control unit 112 a, 114 a, 116 a or the monitoringapplication server 130 may transmit instructions to a monitoring stationserver 120 a to deploy one or more drones 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156,157, 158, 159 associated with a particular drone base station 120.Instructions transmitted to the monitoring station server 120 a mayinclude, for example, information identifying the type of potentialevent detected by the monitoring control unit 112 a, 114 a, 116 a or themonitoring application server 130 and a location of the detectedpotential event. In response to receiving the deployment instructions,the monitoring station server 120 a may instruct one or more drones 151,152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159 to travel to the location of thedetected potential event. The drones 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157,158, 159 may travel to the location of the detected potential event, andinvestigate the detected potential event.

The drones 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159 may be based at adrone base station 120. The drone base station 120 may include one ormore drones such as drones 157, 158, 159, one or more charging stationssuch as charging stations 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129,and a monitoring station server 120 a. The monitoring station server 120a may be configured to deploy, track, redeploy, and service drones basedin the drone base station 120 associated with the monitoring stationserver 120 a. For instance, the monitoring station server 120 a may beable to communicate directly with each of the one or more drones 151,152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159 in order to issue deploymentinstructions, engagement strategy instructions, redeploymentinstructions, or the like. Alternatively, the monitoring applicationserver 130 may be configured to deploy, track, redeploy, and servicedrones based in the drone base station 120 without a dedicatedmonitoring station server 120 a. For instance, the monitoringapplication server 130 may be able to communicate directly with each ofthe one or more drones 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159 inorder to issue deployment instructions, engagement strategyinstructions, redeployment instructions, or the like. Accordingly, thedrone base station 120 may be maintained by a monitoring station server120, monitoring application server 130, or a combination of both workingtogether. Servicing a drone may include, for example, ensuring that adrone's battery is sufficiently charged to perform any necessary actionsrequired of the drone while deployed.

In some implementations, such as the implementation of FIG. 1, themonitoring station server 120 a may instruct one or more drones 151,152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159 to deploy to neighborhood 110from the drone base station 120 without an instruction from a monitoringcontrol unit 112 a, 114 a, 116 a or the monitoring application server130. For instance, the monitoring station server 120 a may deploy one ormore drones 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, and instructthe deployed drones to perform surveillance of the neighborhood 110. Forexample, drones 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156 may be deployed to monitorthe neighborhood 110. Monitoring, or surveilling, the neighborhood 110may include the drone using one or more sensors to capture informationthat may be related to one or more potential security events, emergencyevents, or other alarm events.

In some implementations, each of the deployed drones 151, 152, 153, 154,155, 156 may be equipped with tools 151 a, 151 b, 152 a, 152 b, 153 a,153 b, 154 a, 155 a, 155 b that can be used to perform surveillance ofthe neighborhood 110, engage one or more individuals who may pose athreat, or both. For instance, a drone 151 may be equipped with one ormore video cameras 151 a and a flashlight 151 b. The video camera maycapture 151 c live video feeds that can be transmitted back to theapplication monitoring server 130 via a network 140 using one or morecommunications links 142. Alternatively, or in addition, the drone mayuse the flashlight 151 b to illuminate an area, when appropriate (e.g.,at night), of the neighborhood 110 so that the area of the neighborhoodcan be clearly viewed on the camera feed. While deployed to performsurveillance, the deployed drones 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156 maytravel in random flight paths that systematically sweep some, or all, ofthe neighborhood 110. Alternatively, the deployed drones 151, 152, 153,154, 155, 156 may be configured to travel in predetermined flight pathsthat cover some, or all, of the neighborhood 110.

Alternatively, or in addition, each deployed drone 151, 152, 153, 154,155, 156 may seek out persons who are outside one or more propertieswithin the neighborhood 110 such as person 162. Once a deployed dronesuch as drone 152 encounters a person such as person 162, the deployeddrone may take action to determine whether the person 162 is a potentialsecurity threat. For instance, the deployed drone may use a highresolution camera 152 a to perform facial recognition analysis 152 c ofthe person 162. Alternatively, or in addition, the deployed drone 152may perform other types of biometric analysis of the person 162 such as,for example, a retina scan, voice print, DNA test, or the like.

The deployed drone 152 may determine whether the person 162 is apotential security threat in a number of different ways. For instance,in one implementation, the deployed drone may search one or more locallaw enforcement databases, federal law enforcement databases, publicrecords database, or the like, based on the obtained biometric data(e.g., facial recognition scan, retina scan, voice print, DNA test, orthe like) to determine if a record corresponding to the person 162 canbe found. Alternatively, or in addition, the deployed drone may search adatabase of authorized residents, or visitors, of neighborhood 110 todetermine, based on the obtained biometric data (e.g., facialrecognition scan, retina scan, voice print, DNA test, or the like),whether a record corresponding to the person 162 can be found. In someimplementations, the database of known residents may include residentsof the neighborhood 110 and authorized visitors to neighborhood 110. Forinstance, in some implementations, visitors to neighborhood 110 may berequired to register with a neighborhood database when coming to visit aknown resident of neighborhood 110. In such implementations, if thevisitor is not registered with the neighborhood database, the visitormay be considered an unauthorized visitor to the neighborhood.Alternatively, or in addition, and unauthorized visitor to aneighborhood may include a person whose name was added to a blacklist ina neighborhood database. A person whose name is on the blacklist mayalso be considered an authorized visitor to the neighborhood.

If, for example, the deployed drone 152 determines in a first scenariothat a record corresponding to the person 162 (i) is not found in one ormore local law enforcement databases, one or more federal lawenforcement databases, one or more public records database, or the like,(ii) is found in the neighborhood residents database, or (iii) both, thedeployed drone 152 may determine that the person is not a potentialsecurity threat, and take no further action.

On the other hand, if the deployed drone 152 determines in a secondscenario that a record corresponding to the person 152 is (i) found inone or more local law enforcement databases, federal law enforcementdatabases, public records database, or the like, (ii) not found in theneighborhood residents database, or (iii) both, then the deployed drone152 may determine that the person is a potential security threat. Insuch instances, the deployed drone 152 may take necessary steps tomitigate the detected threat. For instance, the drone 152 may report itssearch result findings to the monitoring application server 130,monitoring station server 120 a, or the like using the network 140 andwait for instructions regarding the type of engagement policy that thedrone 152 should use to engage the person 162. In some instances, themonitoring application server 130 or monitoring station server 120 a mayinstruct the deployed drone 152 to engage the person 162 using aparticular engagement policy (e.g., a low-level engagement policy, amoderate-level engagement policy, a high-level engagement policy, or thelike) based on the respective server's analysis of the drone's searchresult findings. For example, the monitoring application server 130 mayanalyze the second scenario search results indicating the person 162 hasa record is found in a law enforcement database. In that secondscenario, the server may determine that the record indicates that thereis a warrant out for person's 162 arrest. Based on the analysis, themonitoring application server 130 may instruct the deployed drone 152 toemploy a moderate-level engagement policy. Described in more detailbelow, a moderate-level engagement policy may include contacting lawenforcement, and then trying to temporarily disable, or otherwisecontain, the person 162 by playing extremely loud music, displayingextremely bright lights, or the like until law enforcement officialsarrive.

In some instances, additional processing may be performed by the drone152 or the monitoring application server 130 in order determine whetherthe person 162 is a threat. For example, if the deployed drone's searchof a criminal database indicates that the person 162 is an ex-convictwho is on parole, the deployed drone 152 may determine whether theperson 162 is in violation of the person's 162 parole. Alternatively,the deployed drone 152 may merely determine that the person is anex-convict who is on parole via the database(s) search, and requestfurther instruction from the monitoring application server 130. Inresponse, the monitoring application server 130 may perform additionalprocessing to determine whether the ex-con is in violation of his/herparole, and provide instructions to the deployed drone regarding thetype of engagement policy the deployed drone 152 should follow. If it isdetermined that the person 162 is a person in violation of his or herparole, monitoring application server 130 may instruct the deployeddrone 152 to follow a moderate-level engagement policy that includescontacting local law enforcement, and taking moderate measures todisable the person 162 until law enforcement arrives, or both.

Alternatively, or in addition, in some implementations, the deployeddrone 152 may request that one or more other drones assist the deployeddrone 152. Such requests may be transmitted directly between dronesusing the network 140 and one or more communication links 142.Alternatively, or in addition, such requests may be transmitted to themonitoring application server 130, monitoring station server 120 a, orthe like which may each alone, or in combination, instruct one or moreadditional drones to assist the deployed drone 152 in engaging anddisabling the person 162 until law enforcement officials arrive. Theinstruction may include (i) data identifying the potential threat (e.g.,a facial image of a person 162 that is identified as an ex-con inviolation of his/her parole, a facial image of a violent criminal, avoiceprint of a suspected burglar, an image of unauthorized visitor tothe neighborhood 110, data indicative of the person's 162 unique gait,or the like), (ii) data identifying the location of the potential threat(e.g., GPS location, street address, or the like), (iii) datainstructing one or more drones to deploy to the location, and (iv) aparticular engagement policy that the one or more drones should followonce the one or more drones arrive at the location. The location of thepotential threat may include, for example, a GPS location. In oneimplementations, one or more additional drones may be selected based ontheir (i) capabilities, and (2) the type of potential threat.

In some implementations, a deployed drone 155 may be equipped to scanthe license plates of cars such as car 164 that are located within theneighborhood 110. For example, a deployed drone 155 may use a camera 155b to obtain an image of the license plate for each respective carresiding within neighborhood 110. The deployed drone 155 may then searchone or more local law enforcement database, one or more federal lawenforcement databases, one or more neighborhood databases, or acombination therefore, to determine whether the car 164 belongs to aknown criminal, or unauthorized visitor to neighborhood 110. If so, thedeployed drone 155 may contact the monitoring application server 130,provide the records identified in the drone's 155 search result, andrequest instructions on how to proceed. The monitoring applicationserver 130 may provide instructions regarding the engagement policy thedrone 155 should employ. In this instance, since drone identified arecord associated with the car in the one or more of the searcheddatabase, the monitoring application server 130 may instruct the droneto employ a moderate-level engagement policy that includes (i)contacting law enforcement, (ii) searching the vicinity of the car 164in an attempt to identify the car's 164 owner, or (iii) both.

Each of the deployed drones such as deployed drones 152, 154 maycontinue to surveil the neighborhood 110 in order identify potentialsecurity events, potential emergency events, or other potential alarmevents. Such potential events may be identified based on data detectedusing one or more sensors onboard the drone (e.g., cameras, microphones,or the like), receipt of an event notification from a monitoring controlunit such as monitoring control units 112 a, 114 a, 116 a, or receipt ofa transmission from an application monitoring server 130, monitoringstation server 120 a, local law enforcement computer, or the like. Oncea potential event is identified, one or more of the drones may beselected based on the type of potential event detected, the capabilitiesof the drone, the location of the potential event, and the drone'scurrent location in proximity to the location of the potential event(e.g., it may be preferable to a select a drone that is closest to thelocation of the potential event in some instances).

In some instances, all available drones may be deployed to address adetected potential event. Alternatively, in other instances, only asubset of drones properly equipped to mitigate the threat associatedwith a potential event may be selected. Examples of selecting a subsetof properly equipped drones are further discussed below.

The example described above with reference to system 100 of FIG. 1generally describes a system where a monitor control unit 112 acommunicates event notifications to a monitoring application server 130,and the monitoring application server 130 instructions a monitoringstation server 120 a to deploy one or more drones. However, the presentdisclosure need not be so limited. For instance, in one implementation,the functionality of the monitoring application server 130 and themonitoring station server 120 a may be performed by a single server. Forinstance, a single server such as monitoring application server 130 mayreceive/analyze event notifications and manage deployment of drones. Insome of those implementations, the drone base station may house dronesat the same location as the monitoring application server.

FIG. 2 is a contextual diagram of an example of a community-based droneaugmented surveillance system 200 that responds to one or more securityevents in a neighborhood 210. The drone augmented surveillance system200 includes multiple monitor control units 212 a, 214 a, 216 a, a dronebase station 220, a monitoring application server 230, and a network240. The system 200 is substantially similar to the system describedwith respect to system 100. However, the system 200 is in a state ofresponding to the detection of one or more security events identified bythe application server 230.

During the surveillance of a neighborhood 210, a deployed drone such asdeployed drone 251 may determine that a person within the neighborhood210 is a potential threat such as a suspected criminal 272. The system200 may determine that the suspected criminal 272 is a potential threatin any number of ways. For instance, a determination may be made by thesystem 200 that the suspected criminal 272 is the person who triggeredthe generation of a security event notification. In someimplementations, one or more of the monitoring control units such asmonitoring control unit 212 a may relay one or more security eventnotifications that were generated in response to a suspected criminal's272 incursion into the property 212.

In some instance, the security event notifications may be generated byone or more sensors associated with the property 212 in response to thesuspected criminal's 272 interaction with the property 212. Forinstance, the suspected criminal 272 may have broken a window of aproperty 212, thereby triggering a glass break sensor. Alternatively, orin addition, the suspected criminal 272 may have triggered a motionsensor associated with one or more of the properties. The security eventnotifications may be transmitted by one or more respective sensors to amonitoring control unit such as monitoring control unit 212. Then, themonitoring control unit 212 may relay the received security eventnotifications to a monitoring application server 230, which analyzes thesecurity event notifications to determine if an actual security eventhas occurred at the property 212. In some instances, the monitoringapplication server 230 may determine that an actual security event hasoccurred. In response, the monitoring application server 230 mayinstruct the monitoring station server 220 a to deploy one or moredrones to the property 212 to engage a person such as suspected criminal272 who is in a predetermined vicinity of the property 212 that isgenerating security event notifications that have been corroborated bythe monitoring application server 230.

Prior to deploying drones, the monitoring station server 220 may takesteps to determine whether a potential security event exists.Determining whether a potential security event exists may include, forexample, calculating a likelihood that the potential security eventidentified by the received security event notifications is an actualthreat. If the likelihood that the potential security event is an actualsecurity event exceeds a predetermined threshold, the monitoring stationserver 220 a may deploy one or more drones to the neighborhood 210 toinvestigate the potential threat associated with the received securityevent notifications per the instructions received from the monitoringapplication server 330. Determining the likelihood that a potentialsecurity event is an actual security event may include, for example,comparing information obtained through routine surveillance of theproperty with current information obtained via one or more securitynotification events, reviewing live video feeds of the locationassociated with the security notification events, contacting one or moreindividuals present at, or near, the location associated with thesecurity event, or the like.

Though the aforementioned example describes a system where the monitorcontrol unit received security event notifications, and then relayed thesecurity event notifications to the monitoring application server 230for analysis to determine if the security event notifications areindicative of an actual security event, the present disclosure need notbe so limited. For instance, in some implementations, the monitorcontrol unit is capable of receiving, and analyzing, security eventnotifications in the same manner as the monitoring application server230. In such examples, the monitoring control unit can determine whetherthe received security event notifications are indicative of an actualsecurity event, and then instruct a monitoring station server 220 a todeploy one or more drones to investigate the actual security event. Inother implementations, the monitoring control unit may also receivesecurity event notifications, and then relay the security eventnotifications to the monitoring station server 220 a, which may in someimplementations, perform the functionality of the monitoring applicationserver 230 by analyzing received security event notifications todetermine whether an actual security event is occurring, and thensubsequently deploying one or more drones to investigate the actualsecurity event. In some implementations, law enforcement officials mayalso be notified at the time of deployment of the drone.

The instruction provided to one or more drones to investigate apotential threat may also include a location the drone should travel toinitially. In some instances, the location may be associated with aparticular property such as, for example, property 212. This locationmay be determined by the monitoring application server 230 analyzing oneor more security event notifications received from the monitoringcontrol unit 212 a. For instance, monitoring control unit 212 a maytransmit a security event notification to the monitoring applicationserver indicating that one or more motion sensors in a property 212 havebeen triggered. The security event notification may include a locationof the property 212 such as a GPS location, a street address, or thelike. In such instances, the monitoring application server 230 transmitan instruction to the monitoring station server 220 to deploy one ormore drones to travel to the property 212, and search for a suspectedcriminal, or other unlawful intruder, such as suspected criminal 272.

In some instances, the security event notification may not include anexplicit location. In such instances, the monitoring application server230 may determine the location of the security event based on a sensoridentifier, or other data, included in the security event notification.For instance, some implementations may require that the location of eachsensor be registered upon installation. Accordingly, in theseimplementations, the monitoring application server 230 may determine thelocation of a sensor by searching a database of registered sensors usingthe sensor identifier, or other data, that was provided in the securityevent notification in order to obtain the location corresponding to thereceived security event notification.

Alternatively, or in addition, the monitoring application server 230 mayreceive a series of security event notifications from multiple differentsources including one or more monitoring control units, one or morevideo cameras strategically positioned throughout the neighborhood 210,one or more sensors (e.g., cameras, images, microphones, motion sensors,or the like) mounted to one or more drones, or the like. In someimplementations, the security event notifications may include atimestamp in addition to information that can be used to identify thelocation of the sensor. In such instances, the monitoring applicationserver 230 may analyze received security notification events, determinea travel path that the suspected criminal 272 is currently using to fleeby analyzing each respective security event notification's location andtime, and instruct one or more drones to deploy to a location thatintersects the suspected criminal 272 on the suspected criminal's 272travel path.

In some implementations, a deployed drone such as deployed drone 252 maydetermine that a person in the neighborhood 210 poses a potential threatindependent of one or more security event notifications processed andanalyzed by a monitor control unit, monitoring application server, orthe like. For instance, a deployed drone 252 may perform biometricanalysis of people that the deployed drone 252 encounters whileperforming routine surveillance of a neighborhood 210. The deployeddrone 252 may perform biometric analysis by obtaining one or morebiometric samples from people that the deployed drone encounters whileon surveillance. For example, the drone may perform facial recognitionanalysis of a person such as suspected criminal 272 by capturing ahigh-resolution image of the person's face, and then searching one ormore local law enforcement facial recognition databases, one or morefederal law enforcement facial recognition databases, one or more publicrecords facial recognition databases, one or more neighborhood facialrecognition databases, or a combination thereof. Based on the results ofthe search, the deployed drone 252 may determine whether the person is apotential threat or not. Alternatively, the deployed drone 252 maytransmit the search results to a monitoring application server 230,which can analyze the search results, and provide an instruction to thedeployed drone that includes a particular engagement policy that thedrone 252 should use to engage the suspected criminal 272. Though theexample above discusses a deployed drone obtaining a biometric samplethat includes an image of a person's face, the present disclosure neednot be so limited. For instance, obtained biometric data may include anybiometric data associated with a person such as an image of the person'sface, a voiceprint of the person's voice, a DNA sample, or the like andsearch a criminal database.

A deployed drone may identify a security event, emergency event, orother alarm event in other ways. For instance, the deployed drone maycapture data indicative of an emergency using one or more onboardsensors. For example, the drone may detect, using one or moremicrophones, that a person is screaming, yelling, or calling for help.In such instances, the deployed drone may travel to the locationassociated with the sound, and investigate the extent of the potentialthreat associated with the person who is screaming, yelling, or callingfor help. Alternatively, or in addition, the drone may analyze videos,images, or the like and determining that the video, images, or the likeshow one or more persons fighting. In such instances, the deployed dronemay travel to the location associated with the fight, and investigatethe extent of the potential threat associated with the fight.Alternatively, or in addition, the deployed drone may determine that aperson is walking, staggering, or crawling, in a way that doesn't matchthe typical pattern of the neighborhood based on an evaluation ofroutine neighborhood surveillance videos, images, or the like. In suchinstances, the deployed drone may travel to the location associated withthe person is walking, staggering, or crawling in a non-routine way andinvestigate any associated threat.

The engagement policy that a deployed drone uses in order to engage aperson may be based on the threat that the person poses. For instance,when encountering an individual in a neighborhood, a deployed drone mayobtain biometric data from the individual in order to evaluate whetherthe person is a threat, as discussed in the example of FIG. 1. By way ofexample, a deployed drone may determine that the search of local lawenforcement databases does not yield any hits. Alternatively, or inaddition, the search of one or more federal law enforcement databasesdoes not yield any hits. Then, a search of a neighborhood databasereturns search results that indicate that the individual is a resident,or authorized visitor, of a house that resides in neighborhood 210. Insuch instances, absent other information to the contrary, a deployeddrone may determine that the individual does not pose a threat, and maycontinuing surveilling the neighborhood or return to a charging pad 221,222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229 in the drone base station 220. Insome instances, the deployed drone may determine to employ a particularengagement policy independent of consultation with the monitoringapplication server 230 or central monitoring station 220. Alternatively,or in addition, the each deployed drone may be required to transmit thedrones search result findings from searching one or more database to themonitoring application server 230, monitoring station server 220, or thelike and await instructions as to the engagement policy that the droneshould employ when the drone engages an individual who may be apotential threat.

In some instances, a deployed drone 251 may encounter a differentindividual in neighborhood 210 and similarly obtain 251 b biometric datafrom the different individual 271 using a camera 251 a. The result ofthis search may include information that indicates that there is awarrant out for the arrest of individual 271 that is associated with theobtained biometric data because of the individual's failure to payparking tickets. Based on the information included in the searchresults, the deployed drone 251 may engage the individual 271 using alow-level engagement policy. A low-level engagement policy may include,for example, actions performed by a single drone that warn an individualthat the individual is afoul of one or more laws, rules, or the like,notifies an enforcement agency of the violation of the law, rule, or thelike, or both. Under the low-level engagement policy, for example, thedrone 251 may contact law enforcement, and take one or more actions toengage the individual 271 in an effort to contain the individual untillaw enforcement officials arrive. Since the offense the individual 271is suspected of is minor (e.g., failure to pay parking tickets), thedeployed drone 251 may engage the individual 271 with a low level ofaggressiveness. For instance, the deployed drone 251 may output an audiomessage 251 d using an output speaker 251 c that informs the individual271 of the warrant and asks the individual 271 to stay at theindividual's 271 current location until law enforcement officers arrive.In such a scenario, even if the individual 271 starts to flee, thedeployed drone 251 may not pursue the individual 271 nor employ moreaggressive tactics because the drone is instructed to follow a low-levelengagement policy to engage individual 271 who is a low level threat.

Alternatively, another deployed drone 252 may determine that anotherindividual is a suspected criminal 272. The deployed drone 252 maydetermine that the other individual is a suspected criminal 272 byobtaining the suspected criminal's 272 biometric data and searching oneor more database, as described above. Alternatively, the deployed drone252 may determine that the other individual is a suspected criminal 272by receiving a communication from the monitoring application server 230,a monitoring station server 220 a, or some other third party source suchas, for example, a police department, indicating a suspected criminal272 is residing at a particular location. For instance, a third partycould transmit a notification to the drone 252 via the network 240 usingone or more communication links 242 that indicates that an eyewitnessspotted a suspected criminal 272 who is suspected of burglary and armedrobbery on a particular street. Alternatively, or in addition, the thirdparty may also transmit biometric data (e.g., a photograph, voice print,DNA sample, or the like) of the suspected criminal to the deployed drone252 that the deployed drone 252 can use to biometrically identify thesuspected criminal. Once the deployed drone 252 locates the suspectedcriminal 272 the deployed drone may confirm that the person at theparticular location is the suspected criminal 272 reported by the thirdparty using one or more of the biometric identification processesdescribed above. For instance, the deployed drone may obtain ahigh-resolution image of the suspected criminal's 272 face, and comparethe obtained image to the image received from the monitoring applicationserver 230, the monitoring station server 220 a, or the third party toverify the suspected criminal's 272 identity.

Based on the known facts (e.g., that the suspected criminal 272 who issuspected of committing burglary and armed robbery), the deployed drone252 may be instructed to engage the suspected criminal 272 with a moreaggressive moderate-level engagement policy. A moderate-level engagementpolicy may include, for example, performing one or more actions by asingle drone in an attempt to temporarily contain, temporarily disable,temporarily track, or a combination thereof an individual without makingphysical contact. Under a moderate-level engagement policy, for example,the deployed drone 252 may use an output speaker 252 a to outputextremely loud audio signals 252 b in an attempt to temporarily disablethe suspected criminal 272 until law enforcement officers can arrive. Inaddition, the deployed drone 252 may use a tracking device 252 c to lockonto the suspected criminal 272 and track the suspected criminal's 272movement. Since the deployed drone 252 can track the suspectedcriminal's 272 movements, the deployed drone can follow the suspectedcriminal 272 in the event the suspected criminal start to flee. Lawenforcement officials can track the deployed drone's 252 location using,for example GPS, in an effort to lead the law enforcement officers tothe suspected criminal's location.

In some instances, the system 200 may use one or more of the methodsdescribed above to identify a dangerous individual such as a knownterrorist 273 armed with biological weapons that poses a high-levelthreat to a neighborhood 210. In such instances, an instruction may betransmitted to one or more deployed drones 253, 254, 255, 256 via anetwork using one or more communication links 242 which instructs theone or more deployed drones 253, 254, 255, 256 to engage and contain theterrorist 273 that is located at particular location within theneighborhood 210. The instruction may be transmitted by the monitoringapplication server 230, a monitoring station server 220, one or morethird party law enforcement servers, or the like and include thelocation of the terrorist, information identifying the terrorist (e.g.,biometric data), or the like.

Once arriving at the terrorist's 273 location, and verifying theidentity of the terrorist 273 using the methods described above, the oneor more deployed drones 253, 254, 255, 256 may employ a more aggressivehigh-level engagement policy to engage the terrorist 273. A high-levelengagement policy may include, for example, using multiple drones in anattempt to temporarily contain, temporarily disable, temporarily track,or a combination thereof an individual including the use of tactics thatmake physical contact with the individual. Under a high-level engagementpolicy, for example, the deployed drones 253, 254, 255, 256 may swarmthe terrorist 273 in an effort to disorient and temporarily disable theterrorist 273. In some instances, the deployed drones 253, 254, 255, 256may output extremely loud audio signals, extremely bright lights, orboth while swarming the terrorist 273 in the effort to disorient andtemporarily disable the terrorist 273. The swarm executed by deployeddrones 253, 254, 255, 256 may continue until law enforcement officialsarrive to apprehend the terrorist 273. One or more of the deployeddrones may attempt to contain the terrorist 273 by shooting a net at theterrorist 273. If necessary, one or more of the deployed drones 253,254, 255, 256 may crash into the terrorist 273 in an effort to knock-outthe terrorist 273.

Other tactics employed by one or more of the deployed drones 253, 254,255, 256 may include, for example, using a taser to temporarily disablethe terrorist, using a paint gun to mark the terrorist (e.g., so thatthe terrorist can be identified later using the paint mark), using aliquid sprayer to spray foul smelling liquid on a terrorist (e.g., sothat the terrorist may stink for later identification purposes), or thelike.

In one or more of the aforementioned scenarios, a drone that has arrivedat particular location to investigate a threat posed by an individualsuch as a suspected criminal, known terrorist, or the like may requireadditional drones to engage the potential threat. For instance, thedeployed drones 253, 254, 255, 256 may transmit a request for one ormore additional drones via the network 240 using a communication link242. The request for one or more additional drones may be routed throughthe monitoring application server 230 or the monitoring station server220. Alternatively, in some instances, the request for the one or moreadditional drones may be transmitted directly from the deployed drones253, 254, 255, 256 to the one or more additional drones via the network240 using one or more communications links 242. In some instances, theadditional one or more drones may be drones that are already deployedsuch as deployed drones 257, 258 that were previously surveillingproperty 210. Requesting assistance from drones that are alreadydeployed, and then re-deploying those drones, may result in fasterresponse times than deploying a drone that is still based at the dronebase station 220. Alternatively, or in addition, the additional one ormore drones may be drones 261, 262, 263 that are still based at thedrone base station 220.

In yet other implementations, upon receiving a request for one or moreadditional drones, a monitoring application server 230 or a monitoringstation server 220 a may select the one or more additional drones thatare closest in proximity to the threat that the drone requesting helpcurrently resides. For instance, the monitoring application server 230or monitoring station server 220 a may track the location of the dronesthat are currently deployed. When one of the deployed drones requestsassistance from one or more additional drones, the monitoringapplication server 230 or monitoring station server 220 a may access thelocation tracking information for each drone, obtain the location (e.g.,GPS location) for the requesting drone, and determine the one or moredrones that are closest to the requesting drone that can provideassistance. The monitoring application server 230 or monitoring stationserver 220 a may then instruct one or more drones that are closest tothe requesting drone to travel to the requesting drone's location, andprovide assistance. In a similar manner, the monitoring applicationserver 230 may instead instruct the monitoring station server 220 a tore-deploy the one or more drones that are closest to the requestingdrone to travel to the requesting drone's location, and provideassistance.

In some instances, an additional drone may be selected based on theadditional drone's proximity to the requesting drone's location, theadditional drone's capabilities, or both. For instance, the set ofdeployed drones 253, 254, 255, 256 swarming the terrorist 273 maydetermine that the swarm technique is not effective because theterrorist 273 is still active and oriented after the deployed drones253, 254, 255, 256 have swarmed the terrorist 273 for more than apredetermined period of time. In such instances, the deployed drones253, 254, 255, 256, may request one or more drones that can employ amore aggressive tactic to temporarily contain, temporarily disable, orboth, the terrorist 273 until law enforcement arrives. For instance, thedeployed drones 253, 254, 255, 256 may request one or more additionaldrones 257, 258 that are equipped with respective tasers 257 a, 258 athat can be used to taser the terrorist 273 who has been unable to betemporarily contained, temporarily disabled using other means.

One or more deployed drones such as drone 259 may surveil, investigate,and engage vehicles such as vehicle 276 in a substantially similarmanner as the way that the drones surveil, investigate, and engageindividuals. For instance, a deployed drone 259 may obtain identifyinginformation for a vehicle 276 such as a license plate using a camera 259a. Then, the deployed drone 259 may search one or more databases such asa criminal database, department of motor vehicle database, aneighborhood database, a law enforcement database, or the like todetermine if the vehicle's 276 license plate is associated with an ownerthat is not authorized to be in the neighborhood 210, potentially athreat, or both. If it is determined that the owner (or driver) of thevehicle 276 is not authorized to be in the neighborhood 210, potentiallya threat, or both, the deployed drone 259 may take necessary actionbased on the level of the threat posed by the owner (or driver) of thevehicle 276. For example, for lesser offenses such as a vehicle that isnot authorized to be in the neighborhood, the deployed drone 259 mayprovide an audible warning or take picture of the vehicle's licenseplate that can be sent to a home owner's association that can issue aticket to the owner (or driver). However, for more moderate offenses,the deployed drone 259 may output sounds/flashing lights to get theowner (or driver) to pull over. And, for the most severe offenses, thedeployed drone request one or more additional drones that can swarm thecar in an effort to force the car to pull over so that the driver can beapprehended by law enforcement. Alternatively, or in addition, thedeployed drone can lock-onto the vehicle 276 and track the vehicle 276to its destination. In such instances, law enforcement may travel to thelocation (e.g., GPS location) of the drone that tracked the vehicle inan effort to apprehend the owner (or driver) of the vehicle 276.

Accordingly, the system 200 can be used to dynamically deploy one ormore drones from a drone base station 220 to a neighborhood 210 in orderto mitigate one or more potential threats. The potential threats may bedetected based on an analysis of (i) one or more security eventnotifications received from one or more monitor control units 212 a, 214a, 216 a, (ii) data obtained by one or more sensors (e.g., cameras)scattered throughout the neighborhood 210, (iii) data obtained by one ormore sensors mounted to one or more deployed drones 251, 252, 253, 254,255, 256, 257, 258, 259, (iv) data on threats provided by third parties,or (v) a combination thereof. Once detected, the monitoring applicationserver 230 can instruct the one or more drones to investigate thedetected threat. The deployed drones may then verify existence of thethreat, verify the identity of the individual responsible for thethreat, or both. At this point, or at the time each respective dronereceived initial deployment instructions, the monitoring applicationserver 230, monitoring station server 220 a, or internal softwarerunning on each respective drone, may select an engagement policy, andinstruct the deployed drones to engage the individual associated withthe threat using a low-level engagement policy, a moderate-levelengagement policy, a high-level engagement policy, or an engagementpolicy that falls somewhere in between each of the aforementionedpolicies in terms of the aggressiveness used to engage an individual.

The aforementioned example with reference to system 200 of FIG. 2discusses searching a variety of databases based on biometric dataobtained from a person to determine whether the person is a threat. Thedatabases include, for example, local law enforcement databases, federallaw enforcement databases, public records databases, neighborhooddatabases, or the like. However, the present disclosure need not be solimited. For instance, other types of databases may be searched in orderto determine whether a person identified by a deployed drone is adetected threat. For instance, other databases may include, for example,a database storing information regarding persons with a history ofsubstance abuse, persons with a history of mental illness, personsregistered as sex offenders, or the like. In some instances, such datamay be maintained in local law enforcement databases, federal lawenforcement databases, public records databases, neighborhood databases,or the like. However, in other instances, the databases may be separatedatabases designed to track persons with specific problems such asmental health issues, substance abuse issues, sexual predator issues, orthe like. Such information may be considered by a deployed drone,monitoring application server, or both in determining a threat levelassociated with an individual.

In some instances, data associated with an individual in a seconddatabase may be used to support the fact that an otherwise threateningindividual is not a threat. For instance, an individual may appearthreatening based on a determination by a deployed drone that theindividual is suspiciously staggering down the street, and a local lawenforcement agency database returning data that indicates that theperson is an ex-convict. However, search of a mental health database mayindicate that the individual suffers from a psychological illness suchas, for example, schizophrenia. In such instances, the drone maytransmit a notification to law enforcement for assistance that indicatesthat the person is simply needs help and does not pose a threat toanyone else. Such information may allow law enforcement officials toengage the individual with an appropriate level of force.

In response to the detection of a potential threat in a neighborhood210, one or more drones may transmit instructions to one or more monitorcontrol unit 412 a, 414 a, 416 a. The instructions to the monitorcontrol unit 412 a, 414 b, 414 c may instruct the monitor control unitsuch as monitor control unit 412 a to perform one or more actions. Theactions may include, for example, lock entry doors, close/lock garagedoors an electronic gates, arm security system, turn on exterior lights,initiate recording on external cameras, warn residents about a potential(or actual) threat, inform a user regarding the status of exits from theuser's property, determine whether users should stay home or attempt toflee based on the type of threat, location of threat, direction threatis headed, or the like, determine if pets/kids are outside the homeduring a security event, notification event, and or the like

FIG. 3 is a contextual diagram of an example of community-based droneaugmented surveillance system 300 that responds to one or more emergencyevents in a neighborhood 310. The drone augmented surveillance system300 includes multiple monitor control units 312 a, 314 a, 316 a, a dronebase station 320, a monitoring application server 330, and a network340. The system 300 is substantially similar to the system describedwith respect to systems 100 and 200. However, the system 300 is in astate of responding to the detection of one or more emergency eventsidentified by the application server 330.

Each property 312, 314, 316 may include one or more sensors that arecapable of detecting events. An event may include, for example, anyaction that occurs in a property that triggers a sensor to transmit anevent notification to a monitor control unit. In some implementations,the one or more sensors may include glass break sensors, contactsensors, motion sensors, or the like that may generally be focused onsecurity. For instance, glass break sensors, motion sensors, or the likemay be strategically placed throughout a property such as property 312,314, 316 with the intention of detecting break-ins by one or moreindividuals. However, other types of sensors may be strategically placedthrough a property such as property 312, 314, 316 for the purpose ofdetecting emergency events. Such other types of emergency preventionsensors that may be strategically placed throughout a property 312, 314,316 for the purpose of detecting emergencies may include, for example,one or more smoke detectors, one or more temperature sensors, one ormore carbon monoxide detectors, gas sensors, one or more air qualitysensors, one or more power detectors, or the like. In some instances, asensor may be used for dual purposes. That is, a particular sensor ofthe one or more sensors may be strategically placed to detect bothemergency events, security events, and potentially other types ofevents.

In some instances, an emergency prevention sensor may detect theexistence of a potential emergency. For instance, one or more powersensors in the property 312 may determine that there is no power atproperty 312, one or more smoke detectors may determine that smoke ispresent inside the property 316, or the like. In response to detectingthe existence of a potential emergency, each respective emergencyprevention sensor may generate an emergency event notification, andtransmit the respective emergency event notifications to a monitorcontrol unit. For example, a power sensor at property 312 may generatean emergency event notification, and transmit the emergency eventnotification to the monitor control unit 312 a via the network 340 usingone or more communications links 342. Similarly, for example, a smokedetector in property 316 may generate an emergency event notification,and transmit an emergency notification to the monitor control unit 316 avia a network 340 using one or more communications links 342.

The emergency event notifications may include information indicating theemergency type that is associated with the emergency event notification.The emergency type may include an emergency event identifier that themonitor control unit 314 a, 316 a, monitoring application server 330, ormonitoring station server 230 a can map to a particular emergency eventsuch as, for example, smoke, fire, power outage, water leak, flooding,or the like. Alternatively, or in addition, the emergency eventnotification may include a sensor identifier. In such implementations,the monitoring application server 330 may include a mapping functionthat maps the sensor identifier to a particular type of emergency. Forexample, the monitoring application server 330 may determine that theemergency is fire if an emergency event notification is received thatincludes a sensor identifier that corresponds to a smoke detector. Eachof the mapping functions described above may be implemented, forexample, using one or more look-up tables.

The emergency event notifications include information indicating thelocation where the emergency event notification originated. For example,in one implementation, the emergency event notification may includelocation data such as a GPS location, a street address, or the like.Alternatively, however, the location of an emergency event may bedetermined without an explicit inclusion of a location in the emergencyevent notification. In such implementations, the location of each sensormay be registered and stored in the monitoring application server 330 atthe time of installation (or at some point in time after installation).Accordingly, an emergency event notification may only include a sensoridentifier, which the monitoring application server 330 can use toretrieve the location where the sensor that generated the alarm eventnotification is located and/or data indicative of the type of sensor.

In some implementations, the respective monitor control units 312 a, 314a, 316 a may relay any received emergency event notifications to themonitoring application server 330. Once received, the monitoringapplication server 330 may analyze the received emergency eventnotifications to determine the type of emergency, type(s) of dronecapability needed assist in responding to the emergency, and thelocation of emergency.

Determining the type of emergency event may include obtaininginformation describing the type of emergency event from the receivedemergency event notifications. In one implementation, the type ofemergency event information may include, for example, an emergency eventidentifier comprised of one or more numbers, alphabetic characters, orboth that can be mapped to a particular emergency. The mapping betweenemergency event identifiers and emergencies may be a one-to-one mappingsuch that each emergency event identifier is associated with aparticular type of emergency. Alternatively, or in addition, theemergency event notification may include a sensor identifier that can beused to determine the type of emergency. For example, the monitoringapplication server may determine that a sensor identifier corresponds toa power sensor. Accordingly, an emergency event generated by the powersensor may be determined to be a power outage. Implementations that usea sensor identifier to determine the type of emergency may not need toinclude an emergency event identifier whose sole purpose is to identifyan emergency type, as the sensor identifier can be used for thispurpose, as described above.

In a similar manner, the monitoring application server 330 can determinea set of one or more drones that have the capabilities for responding tothe particular emergency associated with a property. For example, themonitoring application server 330 may include a mapping of emergenciesto drone capabilities. In some implementations, this emergency to dronecapabilities mapping may include a one-to-one mapping. However, in otherimplementations, the emergency to drone capabilities mapping may includea one-to-many mapping as there may be multiple drone capabilities thatmay be useful in responding to a particular emergency.

Once the monitoring application server 330 determines the emergencytype, the monitoring application server 330 may instruct the monitoringstation server 320 a to deploy a set of one or more drones to thelocation associated with the emergency event that have a particular setof capabilities to the location associated with the emergency eventnotification. Once the deployed drones arrive at the location associatedwith the emergency event notification, the deployed drones may performtheir respective tasks in order to assist with the response to thedetected emergency.

In some implementations, the monitoring application server 330 mayinstruct the monitoring station server 320 a to deploy a set of one ormore drones that is selected based on the state of the surveillancesystem 300. A state of the surveillance monitoring system 300 may bedetermined based on the number of alarm event notifications from aparticular property, the number of alarm event notifications receivedfrom other properties within a threshold distance from the particularproperty, or both. For instance, if the monitoring application server330 has received emergency event notifications indicating that only asingle sensor in a property 316 has detected smoke, the monitoringapplication server 330 may only instruct the monitoring station server320 a to deploy a single drone equipped with a camera to the property316 to determine additional information about the emergency eventnotification. Alternatively, however, if the monitoring applicationserver 330 has received multiple emergency event notificationsindicating that multiple sensors in the house 316 have detected smokeand multiple sensors in the house have detected extremely hightemperatures, then the monitoring application server 330 may instructthe monitoring station server 320 a to deploy a set of multiple dronesto the property 316 where the set of multiple drones is fully equippedto assist in fighting a fire. In such instances, the monitoring stationserver 320 a may be instructed to deploy drones with water tanks andsprayers, tanks of sodium bicarbonate and sprayers, video cameras, andthe like. In some situations, the monitoring application server 330 maydetermine that the state of the neighborhood monitoring system isextremely severe. For instance, a situation may arise where monitoringapplication server 330 receives emergency event notifications indicatingsmoke and high temperatures from multiple properties in the samevicinity within the neighborhood 310. In such instances, the monitoringapplication server 330 may instruct the monitoring station server 320 ato deploy all drone devices capable of fighting a fire or providingassistance to other drones or law enforcement fighting a fire.

By way of example, with reference to FIG. 3, the property 312 mayinclude one or more power sensors located throughout property 312. Atleast one of the power sensors may detect that power has stopped beingprovided to a power outlet associated with the power sensors. Inresponse to detecting the power stoppage, the power sensors generate arespective emergency event notification that includes an emergency typeidentifier, a sensor identifier, or both that is transmitted to themonitor control unit 312 a, and then relayed by the monitor control unit312 a to the monitoring application server 330 via the network 340 usingone or more communication links 342. The monitoring application server330 may determine using the emergency type identifier or the sensoridentifier that property 312 is experiencing a power outage. Themonitoring application server 330 may use the emergency type (e.g.,power outage) to determine that one or more drones should be deployed tothe location associated with the power sensor that is reporting a poweroutage. In one implementation, the monitoring application server 330 mayidentify a set of one or more drones that should be deployed based onthe drone's capabilities for assisting with a power outage. Forinstance, the monitoring application server 330 may determine, based onthe power outage emergency type, that a set of one or more drones shouldbe deployed that are equipped with lights than can be used to illuminatethe property 312 until power is restored. The monitoring applicationserver 330 may use the sensor identifier to search a database ofregistered sensors in order to obtain the location of the power sensorthat is reporting a power outage. Then, the monitoring applicationserver 330 may transmit an instruction to the monitoring station server320 a via the network 340 using one or more communications links 342that instructs the monitoring station server 320 a to deploy one or moredrones equipped with lights to illuminate the property 312.

The deployed drones 351, 352, 353, 354 may each use a respective light351 a, 352 a, 353 a, 354 a to illuminate 351 b, 352 b, 353 b, 354 b theproperty 312, for example, during periods of the day without naturalsunlight until power can be restored. In some instances, as necessary,the deployed drones 351, 352, 353, 354 may provide assistance to powerstation workers who need to travel to property 312, or its vicinity, inorder to fix power lines, transformers, or the like to resolve the poweroutage. For instance, the deployed drones may illuminate the areas wherethe power station workers are working, transport in portable generators,provide live video feeds to the power station workers at remotelocations, provide live video feeds to government officials highlightingthe power outage recovery efforts, or the like. In some instances, oneor more additional drones 362, 363 may be requested to assist in thepower outage recovery efforts as needed.

By way of another example, with reference to FIG. 3, the property 316may include one or more smoke sensors located throughout property 316.At least one of the smoke sensors may detect the presence of smoke withthe property 316. In response to the detection of smoke, the smokesensors may generate a respective emergency event notification thatincludes an emergency type identifier, a sensor identifier, or both thatis transmitted to the monitor control unit 316 a, and then relayed bythe monitor control unit 316 a to the monitoring application server 330via the network 340 using one or more communication links 342. Themonitoring application server 330 may determine using the emergency typeidentifier or the sensor identifier that property 316 is experiencing afire. The monitoring application server 330 may use the emergency type(e.g., fire) to determine that one or more drones should be deployed tothe location associated with the smoke sensor that is reporting thepresence of smoke. In one implementation, the monitoring applicationserver 330 may identify a set of one or more drones that should bedeployed based on the drone's capabilities for assisting with a fire.For instance, the monitoring application server 330 may determine, basedon the fire emergency, that a set of one or more drones should bedeployed that are equipped with (i) water tanks and water sprayers, (ii)fire extinguishers including CO₂ tanks, sodium bicarbonate tanks, orpotassium bicarbonate tanks and a respective sprayer, (iii) videocameras, or a (iv) combination thereof. The monitoring applicationserver 330 may use the sensor identifier to search a database ofregistered sensors in order to obtain the location of the power sensorthat is reporting the presence of smoke. Then, the monitoringapplication server 330 may transmit an instruction to the monitoringstation server 320 a via the network 340 using one or morecommunications links 342 that includes the location of property 316 andinstructs the monitoring station server 320 a to deploy one or moredrones equipped with (i) water tanks and water sprayers, (ii) fireextinguishers including CO₂ tanks, sodium bicarbonate tanks, orpotassium bicarbonate tanks and a respective sprayer, (iii) videocameras, or a (iv) combination thereof to assist with putting out thefire at property 316.

The deployed drones 355, 356, 357, 358 may travel to the property 316,and assist with efforts to put out the fire at the property. Forinstance the deployed drone 355 may use a fire extinguisher 355 a tospray sodium bicarbonate 355 b on portions of the house that areburning. Alternatively, or in addition, another deployed drone 357 mayuse a water sprayer 357 a to spray water 357 b on the fire. The deployeddrones 355, 357 may be able to fly into openings on the exterior of thehouse (e.g., broken windows, open doors, or the like) in order to searchfor survivors trapped inside the property 316, disperse water, sodiumbicarbonate, or the like on flames burning inside the property 316. Atthe same time, deployed drones 356, 358 may assist with monitoring theprogress being made in combating the fire by setting up a live videofeed to the monitoring application server 340, the monitoring stationserver 320 a, a fire station, a government official's office, or thelike that can be viewed by human operatives. Alternatively, or inaddition, the live video feed may be streamed to one or more mobiledevices of a security analyst, drone base station 320 operator, afireman, a government official, or the like.

In addition to assisting officials in monitoring the situation, one ormore deployed drones may also provide assistance by delivering suppliesto the scene of an emergency event. For example, one or more dronescould be used to, for example, drop off gas masks, oxygen tanks, or thelike to first responders. Alternatively, or in addition, one or moredrones could be used to fly into a burning building and deliver gasmasks, oxygen masks, or the like to victims trapped inside a burningproperty such as property 316. Such actions may allow the victimstrapped inside the burning property to stay conscious until helparrives.

As the deployed drones 355, 356, 357, 358 begin to assist withcombatting the fire at property 316, it may be determined thatadditional assistance is needed. As a result, one or more of thedeployed drones 355, 356, 357, 358 may request the assistance of thedeployed drones 359, 360, 361 in combatting the fire. For instance, overtime, additional drones 359, 360, 361 that have full tanks of sodiumbicarbonate 359 a, 360 a, water 361 a, or the like may be needed toreinforce one or more drones who have already fully dispersed thecontents of their respective sodium bicarbonate tanks, water tanks, orthe like. The deployed drones may continue to assist in combatting thefire at property 316 until the fire is fully extinguished. Theadditional drones may be requested from a set of drones that are alreadydeployed in neighborhood 310 or from a set of drones that are currentlybased at the drone base station on one or more charging stations 321,322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 335,336, 337, 338, 339. The additional drones may be requested and deployedin the same, or similar, manner as that set forth in the description ofFIG. 2.

In some implementations, one or more of a deployed drone, monitoringapplication server, monitor control unit can communicate with members ofthe community where an event such as an emergency event that hasoccurred. In one example, one or more specific persons in theneighborhood may be identified by the drone (e.g., by searching aneighborhood database) as having a special ability such as combattraining, special ops background, retired police, or the like. In suchinstances, a deployed drone, for example, may instruct the personidentified as having a special ability to help out with an emergencyevent while the drone searches the neighborhood to warn other people ofthe emergency event who are at greater risk than the person identifiedas having a special ability. The users with a special ability may bedirected to locations of high-risk within a property to help withprotecting at-risk individual form further harm. The users with aspecial ability may live in a neighborhood surveilled by the drones, orjust be nearby a portion of a property that is being surveilled by thedrones.

FIG. 4 is a contextual diagram of an example of a community-based droneaugmented surveillance system 400 that gathers information regarding theroutines of residents in a neighborhood 410. The drone augmentedsurveillance system 400 includes multiple monitor control units 412 a,414 a, 416 a, a drone base station 420, a monitoring application server430, and a network 440. The drone base station 420 may base one or moredrones 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459 and include one or morecharging stations 421, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429. Thesystem 400 is substantially similar to the system described with respectto systems 100, 200, and 300. However, the system 400 is employing oneor more drones to gather information regarding the routines of residentsin a neighborhood 410.

Periodically throughout routine days, the monitoring station server 420a may instruct one or more drones 451, 452 to deploy, and travel to theneighborhood 410. The monitoring station server 420 a may instruct thedeployed drones 451, 452 to gather information related to the routinesof residents within the neighborhood 410. The gathered information mayinclude, for example, video recordings of traffic patterns. For example,a drone 451 may use a camera 451 a to obtain 451 b video recordings ofthe traffic patterns that exist in neighborhood 410. The deployed drones451, 452 may work together to aerially traverse each roadway for aparticular neighborhood 410 and obtain 451 b, 452 b video of the trafficpatterns using their respective cameras 451 a, 452 a. In addition tolive video, the deployed drones 451, 452 may also capture still imagesof the traffic patterns. The capture video, images, or both may betransmitted to the monitoring station server 420 a via the network 440using one or more communications links 442. The monitoring stationserver 420 a may later use the capture video, images, or both to verifythat a potential security event or a potential emergency event is anactual security event or actual emergency event. For instance, livevideo feeds of a neighborhood 410 a at the time of a potential securityevent or potential emergency event may be compared to the stored videofeeds of the neighborhood during a routine day. If the result of thecomparison of the video feeds indicates that the feeds are generally thesame, that result may be supportive of a conclusion that the potentialsecurity event or the potential emergency event is not an actualsecurity event or actual emergency event. On the other hand, if theresult of the comparison of the video feeds indicates that the live feedvideo of the neighborhood 410 is different than the stored video feedfor the neighborhood 410, such a result may be supportive of aconclusion that the potential security event or the potential emergencyevent is an actual security event or an actual emergency event.

The gathering of video (or still images) of neighborhood trafficpatterns may be achieved at different times of each day of the year. Thegathered video (or still images) may be stored in a database thatfacilitates access to the historical traffic patterns on particulardays, and at particular times on each respective day. For instance, thedrones may capture video of the traffic pattern every hour, of everyday, and store the captured video in a database. The stored video may betagged with a neighborhood identifier, day, street name, and timestampindicative of the time the video was obtained by a drone, a combinationthereof, or the like. Then, prior to deploying one or more drones inresponse to a potential security event or a potential emergency event, amonitoring station server 420 a may access the database of videos, andcompare the live video feed obtained as the potential security event oremergency event is going on with the stored historical video from thesame general time period (e.g., within an hour, half hour, 15 minutes,or the like) on the same day for the same neighborhood in the past.Then, the result of the comparison of the live video feed to thehistorical video feeds can be evaluated to determine whether the resultsof the comparison is supportive of the existence of an actual securityevent or actual emergency event, or supportive of the non-existence ofan actual security event or actual emergency event.

In some implementations, the system may be configured to detect, andaccount for, the changes in traffic patterns that occur on holidays thatoccur year in and year out but on different days such as memorial day,labor day, or the like. That is, the system may, for example, be able toaccess a calendar, and determine whether the day on which video, images,or the like is captured is a holiday. If so, it can be determinedwhether the traffic patterns, or other routines, identified for thatparticular day, are routine for a particular holiday as opposed tomerely determining whether the traffic patterns identified are routinefor that particular day of the week.

The examples above discuss the gathering of information regarding theroutine of residents with respect to the capturing of video or images ofneighborhood traffic patterns. However, the scope of the presentdisclosure should not be so limited. Instead, other types of informationmay be gathered regarding the routine of residents within aneighborhood. For example, aerial video (or images) of other portions ofneighborhood may also be captured. For instance, video (or images) ofsidewalk traffic, bike paths, common areas such as parks, or the likemay also captured. Other types of information may also be captured thatis indicative of the routines of a neighborhood on a particular routineday.

In some implementations, the gathered information regarding the routineof residents within the neighborhood may be used to detect the existenceof potential problems in a neighborhood 410 by using the gatheredinformation to detect aberrations within the neighborhood 410. Forinstance, the monitoring application server 430 or the monitoringstation sever 430 a may include an aberration engine. The aberrationengine may receive as inputs gathered information regarding thehistorical routines of residents within the neighborhood 410 and liveinformation that is being collected regarding the current behavior ofresidents within the neighborhood 410. The aberration engine mayidentify one or more aberrations that exist between the historicalinformation and the current information. In response to a detectedaberration, one or more drones may be deployed in order to investigatethe location of the neighborhood 410 that is associated with theaberration.

In some implementations, there may be times when monitoring applicationserver of system 400 isn't sure whether something represents anaberration even after comparing current sensory/video data to historicaldata. In such instances, the system may continue to gather more dataover time so they can make a better determination. For example, a dronemay capture video or images that can be streamed to the monitoringapplication server that shows a person up a tree near a house, and isn'tsure if that is normal or not. In such instances, the monitoringapplication server 430 may instruct one or more drones in the system tocome back periodically to collect more sensor data and footage with thegoal of making a determination about what is happening and whether toalert users and/or responders. Over time, as more video and images ofthe location is determined, it can be determine if the person in thetree is a resident of the property the tree is near, the approximate ageof the person, the gender of the person, the identity of the person(using databases identified above), and thereby make a determination asto wehtehr there is a threat, there is not threat, or the like.Alternatively, if after a predetermined period of time has passed andmore data has been collected, the apparent aberration has not becorrectly interpreted, the monitoring application server 430 mayescalate the issue to humans at drone base station for furtherconsideration.

FIG. 5 is a contextual diagram of an example of community-based droneaugmented surveillance system 500 that selectively monitors propertiesin a neighborhood 510 based on user account settings. The droneaugmented surveillance system 500 includes multiple monitor controlunits 511 a, 512 a, 513 a, 514 a, 515 a, 516 a, a drone base station520, a monitoring application server 530, and a network 540. The dronebase station 520 may base one or more drones 552, 553, 554, 555, 556,557, 558, 559 and include one or more charging stations 521, 522, 523,524, 525, 526, 527, 528, 529. The system 500 is substantially similar tothe system described with respect to systems 100, 200, 300, and 400.However, the system 500 is employing one or more drones to performsurveillance of neighborhood 510 based on user account settings.

In some implementations, a resident of neighborhood 510, lawful propertyowner of a property that resides within neighborhood 510, or a lawfuloccupant of a property residing within the neighborhood 510(collectively referred to as “resident”) may customize dronesurveillance of resident's property. For instance, the monitoringapplication server 530, or some other third party server, may host aportal that is accessible via the network 540 that provides the residentwith access to the resident's user account. The resident's user accountmay include a profile of one or more customizable drone surveillancesettings. Customizable drone surveillance settings may include one ormore attributes that the resident can assign a value to in an effort tocontrol the level of drone surveillance that is performed with respectto the resident's property. For example, a user may access thecustomizable drone surveillance settings in order to toggle one or morespecific customizable drone surveillance settings such as (i) whether adrone can (or cannot) record video of the resident's property, (ii)whether a drone can (or cannot) capture still images of the property,(iii) whether a drone can (or cannot) perform thermal imaging of theproperty, (iv) whether a drone can (or cannot) enter the within apredetermined distance of the resident's housing structure, (v) whethera drone can (or cannot) cross the resident's property line, (vi) whethera drone can (or cannot) enter the airspace above the resident'sproperty, or the like.

In some implementations, the customizable drone surveillance settingsmay be conditional. For instance, a resident may set one or morecustomizable drone surveillance settings which can be overridden in theevent a predetermined condition is detected. For example, a resident mayconfigure the resident's user account such that a drone cannot enter theairspace of the resident's property unless one or more security eventnotifications, emergency event notifications, or one or more other alarmevent notifications have been generated by a sensor associated with theresident's property. Such conditions may be set in place by a residentof the property in order to prohibit a drone from regularly surveillingthe resident's property while the resident still receives the benefitsof the community drone surveillance system when the resident's propertyis undergoing a security event or an emergency event.

It is contemplated that any number of customizable drone surveillancesettings, corresponding conditions on the customizable dronesurveillance settings, or combinations thereof fall within the subjectmatter of this specification. Other examples of conditional dronesurveillance settings may include (i) permitting a drone to capturevideo or image surveillance of a particular portion of the resident'sproperty (e.g., permit video surveillance of back yard but not frontyard), (ii) permitting a drone to capture video or image surveillance ofthe resident's property during particular times of the day (e.g., permitdrone surveillance at night but not during the day), (iii) permittingthe full scope of drone surveillance services in the event that asecurity event notification, emergency event notification, or any otheralarm event notification is generated by any property in the sameneighborhood as the resident's property, (iv) only allow surveillance ofthe property only if an authorized occupant of the property is notpresent at the property or not, (v) only allow surveillance of theproperty if the kids are at home and the parents are not home, or thelike. In those instances where drone surveillance is contingent of theauthorized occupant, parent, or the like being present at the property,the authorized occupant's, parent's, or the like location may bedetermined based on the location of the authorized occupant's, parent's,or the like phone, car, past geofence crossings, direct drone sightingor surveillance, or the like.

The customization of one of the one or more customizable dronesurveillance settings may impact the flight path of a drone duringroutine drone surveillance operations or during drone response tosecurity events or emergency events. For instance, as a drone approachesa property on the drone's flight path, the drone may access a userprofile associated with the property's resident, and adjust the drones'flight path and surveillance operations based on the settings in theuser profile associated with the property's resident. In oneimplementation, the drone may utilize a navigation map that associatesresident user profile identifiers with properties on the map. The userprofile identifiers may include, for example, a resident's accountnumber. As the drone moves within a predetermined threshold distancefrom the property line of the resident's property, the drone may use theresident's account number to access the resident's customizable dronesurveillance settings, and adjust the drone's flight path accordingly.

For example, with reference to FIG. 5, a drone 551 may be deployed by adrone base station 520 to perform surveillance of the neighborhood 510.Surveillance may include, for example, the drone 551 using a camera 551a to obtain 551 b live video feeds or images that can be monitored by asecurity agent at a terminal provided access to the drone's 551 feed.The drone's 551 flight path 570 results in the drone coming up onproperty 511 first. The resident of property 511 either (i) has a userprofile that permits the drone to fly through, and capture videosurveillance of, the resident's property 511, or (ii) has not customizeddrone surveillance of his/her property. As a result, the drone 551travels through the property's 511 airspace and obtains 551 b videosurveillance of the property 511.

Next, the drone's 551 flight path brings the drone within apredetermined threshold distance of the property 512 and the drone 551accesses the resident of property's 512 user profile of customizabledrone surveillance settings. Based on accessing the resident ofproperty's 512 user profile of customizable drone surveillance settings,the drone 551 may determine that the resident of property 512 does notpermit any drone surveillance within the property's 512 boundary line512 b. Accordingly, the drone's 551 flight path 570 is dynamicallyadjusted so that the drone 570 can continue onto the next property inthe neighborhood to continue the drone's 551 neighborhood surveillancewhile staying clear of the boundary line 512 b of property 512 per theresident of property's 512 customizable drone surveillance settings.Then, drone 551 may continue along its surveillance flight path 570 thattakes the drone 551 through the airspace of property 513, property 514,and property 515, each of which are associated with resident userprofiles that do not restrict the drone's surveillance of the respectiveproperties at the time of the drone′ 551 flight.

Next, the drone's 551 flight path 570 brings the drone 551 within apredetermined threshold distance of the property 516 b where the drone551 may access the property 516 resident's user profile. The property516 resident's user profile may indicate that a drone 551 is notpermitted within the boundary line 516 b of the property 516 unless asecurity event notification or an emergency event notification has beengenerated by one or more sensors of the resident's property 516. In theexample of FIG. 5, the drone 551 may determine that a glass break sensorand one or more motion sensors each generated a security eventnotification due to a potential home invasion by a burglar 560.Accordingly, the drone 551 may determine that the override conditionestablished by property 516 resident's user profile is met that permitsthe drone to fly past the property's 516 boundary line 516 b to engagethe burglar 560.

FIG. 6A is a contextual diagram of multiple drone base stations 620-A,622-A, 624-A, 626-A that each house multiple drones for performingcommunity-based drone augmented surveillance of multiple neighborhoods610-A, 612-A, 614-A, 616-A.

Each drone base station 620-A, 622-A, 624-A, 626-A may be positionedoutside of the respective neighborhood 610-A, 612-A, 614-A, 616-A towhich the drone base station 620-A, 622-A, 624-A, 626-A provides dronesurveillance and emergency services. Alternatively, or in addition, oneor more drone base stations 620-A, 622-A, 624-A, 626-A may also residewithin the neighborhood 610-A, 612-A, 614-A, 616-A to which the dronebase station 620-A, 622-A, 624-A, 626-A provides drone surveillance andemergency services. In some implementations, a drone base stationhousing drones may be configured to provide community-based droneaugmented surveillance to a particular neighborhood. For example, thedrone base station 620-A may house a predetermined number of drones suchas drones 620 a-A, 620 b-A, 620 c-A, 620 d-A that can be used to providesurveillance and emergency related assistance to the neighborhood 610-A.However, the present disclosure need not be so limited. For example,since each drone base station 620-A, 622-A, 624-A, 626-A is inherentlylimited to a predetermined number of drones that the particular dronebase station can house, there may be instances where a first drone basestation needs to request additional drones from a different drone basestation. Accordingly, aspects of the subject matter disclosed by thisspecification provide for drone base station to drone base stationcommunication to facilitate drone sharing.

Drone sharing may be particularly important during severe emergencyevents. This is because, of the predetermined number of drones housed byany particular drone base station, only a subset of the predeterminednumber of drones may be equipped to address a particular emergency suchas, for example a fire. For example, assume a fire breaks out inneighborhood 610-A. In response to an instruction from a monitoringapplication server, the drone base station 620-A may deploy one or moredrones equipped with water tanks/sprayers, sodium bicarbonatetanks/sprayers, or the like. However, if the fire persists for a longperiod of time or spreads (e.g., a wildfire in summer), the drone basestation 620-A may either not have enough properly equipped drones tocontain the fire or may run out of water tanks, sodium bicarbonatetanks, or the like needed to reinforce its firefighting drones. In suchinstances, the drone base station 620-A can request additional dronesupport from another drone base station such as drone base station622-A, drone base station 624-A, or drone base station 626-A. Thoughdrone base station 622-A, drone base station 624-A, or drone basestation 626-A are each configured to primarily surveil neighborhood612-A, neighborhood 614-A, and neighborhood 616-A, respectively, each ofthe drone base stations 622-A, 624-A, 626-A may deploy one or moredrones to help fight the fires in neighborhood 610-A, if requested.

A monitoring station server associated with a first drone base station620-A may monitor the first drone base station's supply of drones thatare equipped to respond to each active security event, emergency event,or other alarm events in the neighborhood 610-A. For example, themonitoring station server associated with the first drone base station620-A may determine whether the first drone base station's 620-A supplyof drones equipped to respond to one or more of the active securityevents, emergency events, or other alarm events falls below apredetermined threshold. In response, the monitoring station serverassociated with the first drone base station 620-A may transmit arequest for additional drones through a network using one or morecommunications links to another monitoring station server associatedwith a second drone base station 626-A. The request for additionaldrones may include a request for one or more drones having a particularcapability that can be used to respond to, or otherwise address, theactive security events, emergency events, or other alarm events that areongoing in the neighborhood 610-A for which the first drone base station620-A has a drone deficiency (e.g., a supply of drones to address theactive security events, emergency events, or other alarm events thatfalls below a predetermined threshold). Alternatively, or in addition,the monitoring station server associated with the first drone basestation 620-A may also send a general request for any additional dronehaving any capabilities to the other monitoring station serverassociated with the second drone base station 626-A.

In some instances, a drone deficiency may arise even if a first dronebase station 620-A has a supply of drones that are equipped to addressan active security event, emergency event, or other alarm event. Forinstance, though a first drone base station 620-A may have a supply ofdrones to address the active security event, emergency event, or otheralarm event, the first drone base station's 620-A drones may not have abattery that is sufficiently charged due to extended deployments torespond to the active security event, emergency event, or other alarmevent. Accordingly, when a monitoring station server associated with thefirst drone base station 620-A evaluates its current supply of dronesequipped to address any particular security event, emergency event, orother alarm event, the monitoring station server associated with thefirst drone base station 620-A may not consider a drone with aninsufficiently charged battery as a drone that is available fordeployment to address an active security event, emergency event, orother alarm event. Similar exclusions of a drone from the first dronebase station's available supply of drones may also be made if the droneis lacking a particular component necessary to perform its function(e.g., a fire fighting drone that has a fully charged battery but notwater, sodium bicarbonate, or the like to fill its tank).

FIG. 6B is a contextual diagram of multiple drone base stations residingwithin a single neighborhood 610B that each house drones for performingcommunity-based drone augmented surveillance of a single neighborhood.

In some instances, one or more drone base stations may be located withina neighborhood. For example, drone base stations 620-B, 622-B, 624-B,626-B may be located within a particular neighborhood such asneighborhood 610-B. Using drone base stations that are located within aneighborhood such as neighborhood such as neighborhood 610-B may providefor enhanced community-based drone augmented surveillance. Thecommunity-based augmented surveillance may be enhanced because droneresponse times, deployment times, or the like are reduced because thedrones have a short distance to travel to any security events, emergencyevents, or other alarm events detected within the neighborhood 610-Bbecause the drone base stations are located within the neighborhood610-B.

Based on a detected security event, emergency event, or alarm event, amonitoring application server may instruct the drone base station 620-B,622-B, 624-B, 626-B that is closest in proximity to the detectedsecurity event, emergency event, or alarm event to deploy one or moredrones to investigate the detected event. For instance, assume that amonitoring application server receives a security event notificationindicating that a security event is detected in at location 660. In sucha scenario, the monitoring application server may transmit aninstruction to the drone base station 626-B to deploy one or more drones626 a-B, 626 b-B, 626 c-B, 626 d-B to the location 660 to investigatethe security event 660.

In one implementation, the monitoring application server may transmitthe instruction to monitoring station server that is assigned to managedeployment of the drones housed by the drone base station 626-B.Alternatively, the monitoring application server may configured toreceiving alarm event notifications such as security eventnotifications, emergency event notifications, or the like and managedeployment of the drones housed by the drone base station 626-B withoutthe assistance of a separate monitoring station server. In suchinstances, the monitoring application server may receive one or morealarm event notifications such as security event notification, emergencyevent notification, or the like and then transmit an instructiondirectly to one or more drones 626 a-B, 626 b-B, 626 c-B, 626 d-B todeploy to the location 660 associated with the alarm event notification.

Each of the drone base stations 620-B, 622-B, 624-B, 626-B residingwithin the neighborhood 610-B may share the drones that each respectivedrone base station houses with another drone base station in the samemanner as described with respect to FIG. 6A. In some instances, thedrone base stations 620-B, 622-B, 624-B, 626-B may be located atstrategic locations throughout the neighborhood 610-B in an effort toreduce drone response times.

Though the example described with reference to FIG. 6B describesscenarios where a drone base station houses multiple drones 626 a-B, 626b-B, 626 c-B, 626 d-B, the present disclosure need not be so limited.For instance, in one implementation, multiple different drone basestations may be distributed throughout the neighborhood 610-B that eachhouse a single drone and a single charging station. By way of example,each drone base station may include a tall streetlight-esque structurethat opens at the top to release the drone when the drone is deployed,or to receive the drone onto a charging station when a drone returnsfrom deployment. Though drone base stations of multiple different sizes,shapes, and structures can be used, a tall streetlight-esque structuremay prove beneficial to avoid members of the public from tampering withthe drone maintained by each respective drone base station. In thisscenario, drone base stations in the form of streetlight-esquestructures may be arranged throughout a neighborhood 610-B. In someimplementations, multiple drone base stations may be provided for eachneighborhood street, block, or the like. In an implementation thatutilizes drone base stations housing a small number of drones such asone drone, two drones, or the like, the community-based drone augmentedsurveillance system may be configured to operate without the aid of adedicated monitoring station server. In such instances, a monitoringapplication server may function as both the monitoring applicationserver and the monitoring station server. That is, the monitoringapplication server may receive security event notifications, emergencyevent notifications, or other alarm event notifications, and also managedeployment of the drones. In such an implementation, the monitoringapplication server may facilitate deployment of the drones bytransmitting one or more deployment instructions directly to the dronehoused by a respective base station, a processor associated with thedrone base station, or a combination thereof.

Though a streetlight-esque structure is described above with referenceto a drone base station, other structures may be used. For instance,short and squat structures similar in size and scope to a postal serverdrop box may be used to house a drone, charging station, and or the likeon each street corner of a neighborhood. Alternatively, or in addition,one or more structures to house a drone, wireless charging station, orthe like may be maintained underground, and be configured to rise up outof the ground on a platform when deployment of a drone is required (orsimilarly when a deployed drone arrives back from deployment). Yet othertypes of drone station structures may also be used.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a surveillance system that utilizes one ormore drones. The electronic system 700 includes a network 705, a monitorcontrol unit 710, one or more user devices 740, 750, a monitoringapplication server 760, and a monitoring application server 760. In someimplementations, the network 705 facilitates communications between themonitoring application server 760, and the monitoring station server770.

The network 705 is configured to enable exchange of electroniccommunications between devices connected to the network 705. Forexample, the network 705 may be configured to enable exchange ofelectronic communications between the monitoring system control unit710, the one or more user devices 740, 750, the monitoring applicationserver 760, and the monitoring station server 770. The network 105 mayinclude, for example, one or more of the Internet, Wide Area Networks(WANs), Local Area Networks (LANs), analog or digital wired and wirelesstelephone networks (e.g., a public switched telephone network (PSTN),Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), a cellular network, andDigital Subscriber Line (DSL)), radio, television, cable, satellite, orany other delivery or tunneling mechanism for carrying data. Network 705may include multiple networks or subnetworks, each of which may include,for example, a wired or wireless data pathway. The network 705 mayinclude a circuit-switched network, a packet-switched data network, orany other network able to carry electronic communications (e.g., data orvoice communications). For example, the network 705 may include networksbased on the Internet protocol (IP), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM),the PSTN, packet-switched networks based on IP, X.25, or Frame Relay, orother comparable technologies and may support voice using, for example,VoIP, or other comparable protocols used for voice communications. Thenetwork 705 may include one or more networks that include wireless datachannels and wireless voice channels. The network 705 may be a wirelessnetwork, a broadband network, or a combination of networks including awireless network and a broadband network.

The monitoring system control unit 710 includes a controller 712 and anetwork module 714. The controller 712 is configured to control amonitoring system (e.g., a home alarm or security system) that includesthe monitoring system control unit 710. In some implementations, thecontroller 712 may include a processor or other control circuitryconfigured to execute instructions of a program that controls operationof an alarm system. In these examples, the controller 712 may beconfigured to receive input from sensors, detectors, or other devicesincluded in the alarm system and control operations of devices includedin the alarm system or other household devices (e.g., a thermostat, anappliance, lights, etc.). For example, the controller 712 may beconfigured to control operation of the network module 714 included inthe monitoring system control unit 710.

The network module 714 is a communication device configured to exchangecommunications over the network 705. The network module 714 may be awireless communication module configured to exchange wirelesscommunications over the network 705. For example, the network module 714may be a wireless communication device configured to exchangecommunications over a wireless data channel and a wireless voicechannel. In this example, the network module 714 may transmit alarm dataover a wireless data channel and establish a two-way voice communicationsession over a wireless voice channel. The wireless communication devicemay include one or more of a LTE module, a GSM module, a radio modem,cellular transmission module, or any type of module configured toexchange communications in one of the following formats: LTE, GSM orGPRS, CDMA, EDGE or EGPRS, EV-DO or EVDO, UMTS, or IP.

The network module 714 also may be a wired communication moduleconfigured to exchange communications over the network 705 using a wiredconnection. For instance, the network module 714 may be a modem, anetwork interface card, or another type of network interface device. Thenetwork module 714 may be an Ethernet network card configured to enablethe monitoring system control unit 710 to communicate over a local areanetwork and/or the Internet. The network module 714 also may be avoiceband modem configured to enable the alarm panel to communicate overthe telephone lines of Plain Old Telephone Systems (POTS).

The monitoring system that includes the monitoring system control unit710 includes one or more sensors or detectors. For example, themonitoring system may include multiple sensors 720. The sensors 720 mayinclude a contact sensor, a motion sensor, a glass break sensor, or anyother type of sensor included in an alarm system or security system. Thesensors 720 also may include an environmental sensor, such as atemperature sensor, a water sensor, a rain sensor, a wind sensor, alight sensor, a smoke detector, a carbon monoxide detector, an airquality sensor, etc. The sensors 720 further may include a healthmonitoring sensor, such as a prescription bottle sensor that monitorstaking of prescriptions, a blood pressure sensor, a blood sugar sensor,a bed mat configured to sense presence of liquid (e.g., bodily fluids)on the bed mat, etc. In some implementations, the sensors 720 mayinclude a radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensor that identifies aparticular article that includes a pre-assigned RFID tag.

The monitoring system control unit 710 communicates with the module 722and the camera 730 to perform surveillance or monitoring. The module 722is connected to one or more devices that enable home automation control.For instance, the module 722 may be connected to one or more lightingsystems and may be configured to control operation of the one or morelighting systems. Also, the module 722 may be connected to one or moreelectronic locks at the property and may be configured to controloperation of the one or more electronic locks (e.g., control Z-Wavelocks using wireless communications in the Z-Wave protocol). Further,the module 722 may be connected to one or more appliances at theproperty and may be configured to control operation of the one or moreappliances. The module 722 may include multiple modules that are eachspecific to the type of device being controlled in an automated manner.The module 722 may control the one or more devices based on commandsreceived from the monitoring system control unit 710. For instance, themodule 722 may cause a lighting system to illuminate an area to providea better image of the area when captured by a camera 730.

The camera 730 may be a video/photographic camera or other type ofoptical sensing device configured to capture images. For instance, thecamera 730 may be configured to capture images of an area within abuilding monitored by the monitoring system control unit 710. The camera730 may be configured to capture single, static images of the area andalso video images of the area in which multiple images of the area arecaptured at a relatively high frequency (e.g., thirty images persecond). The camera 730 may be controlled based on commands receivedfrom the monitoring system control unit 710.

The camera 730 may be triggered by several different types oftechniques. For instance, a Passive Infra Red (PIR) motion sensor may bebuilt into the camera 730 and used to trigger the camera 730 to captureone or more images when motion is detected. The camera 730 also mayinclude a microwave motion sensor built into the camera and used totrigger the camera 730 to capture one or more images when motion isdetected. The camera 730 may have a “normally open” or “normally closed”digital input that can trigger capture of one or more images whenexternal sensors (e.g., the sensors 720, PIR, door/window, etc.) detectmotion or other events. In some implementations, the camera 730 receivesa command to capture an image when external devices detect motion oranother potential alarm event. The camera 730 may receive the commandfrom the controller 712 or directly from one of the sensors 720.

In some implementations, the camera 730 triggers integrated or externalilluminators (e.g., Infra Red, Z-wave controlled “white” lights, lightscontrolled by the module 722, etc.) to improve image quality when thescene is dark. An integrated or separate light sensor may be used todetermine if illumination is desired and may result in increased imagequality.

The camera 730 may be programmed with any combination of time/dayschedules, system “arming state”, or other variables to determinewhether images should be captured or not when triggers occur. The camera730 may enter a low-power mode when not capturing images. In this case,the camera 730 may wake periodically to check for inbound messages fromthe controller 712. The camera 730 may be powered by internal,replaceable batteries if located remotely from the monitoring controlunit 710. The camera 730 may employ a small solar cell to recharge thebattery when light is available. Alternatively, the camera 730 may bepowered by the controller's 712 power supply if the camera 730 isco-located with the controller 712.

In some implementations, the camera 730 communicates directly with themonitoring application server 760 over the Internet. In theseimplementations, image data captured by the camera 730 does not passthrough the monitoring system control unit 710 and the camera 730receives commands related to operation from the monitoring applicationserver 760.

The system 700 further includes one or more drone devices 780 and 782.The drone devices 780 and 782 may be unmanned devices that are capableof movement. For example, the drone devices 780 and 782 may be capableof moving throughout a location based on automated control technologyand/or user input control provided by either the user or by applicationserver 760. In such an example, the drone devices 780 and 782 may beable to fly, roll, walk, or otherwise move about a location. The dronedevices 780 and 782 may include helicopter type devices (e.g., quadcopters), rolling helicopter type devices (e.g., roller copter devicesthat can fly and also roll along the grounds, walls, or ceiling), landvehicle type devices (e.g., automated cars that drive around aproperty), and plane type devices (e.g., unmanned aircraft). In someinstances, the drone devices 780 and 782 may be drone devices that areintended for other purposes and merely associated with the monitoringsystem 700 for use in appropriate circumstances. For instance, asecurity drone may be associated with the monitoring system 700 as oneof the drone devices 780 and 782 and may be controlled to take actionresponsive to monitoring system events.

In some implementations, the drone devices 780 and 782 automaticallynavigate to a location of a property in response to receiving an alarmsignal from the monitoring application server 760. In these examples,the drone devices 780 and 782 include sensors and control processorsthat guide movement of the drone devices 780 and 782 to the location ofthe property. For instance, the drone devices 780 and 782 may navigateto the location using one or more cameras, one or more proximitysensors, one or more gyroscopes, one or more accelerometers, one or moremagnetometers, a global positioning system (GPS) unit, an altimeter, oneor more sonar or laser sensors, and/or any other types of sensors thataid in navigation about the location. The drone devices 780 and 782 mayinclude control processors that process output from the various sensorsand control the drone devices 780 and 782 to move along a path thatreaches the desired destination and avoids obstacles. In this regard,the control processors detect obstructions and guide movement of thedrone devices 780 and 782 in a manner that avoids the obstructions.

In addition, the drone devices 780 and 782 may store data that describesattributes of the property. For instance, the drone devices 780 and 782may store a three-dimensional exterior model of the property thatenables the drone devices 780 and 782 to navigate outside the property.During initial configuration, the drone devices 780 and 782 may receivethe data describing attributes of the property, determine a frame ofreference to the data (e.g., a home or reference location in theproperty), and navigate the property location based on the frame ofreference and the data describing attributes of the property. Further,initial configuration of the drone devices 780 and 782 also may includelearning of one or more navigation patterns in which a user providesinput to control the drone devices 780 and 782 to perform a specificnavigation action (e.g., fly to the property location and spin aroundwhile capturing video and then return to a monitoring station). In thisregard, the drone devices 780 and 782 may learn and store the navigationpatterns such that the drone devices 780 and 782 may automaticallyrepeat the specific navigation actions upon a later request.

In some implementations, the drone devices 780 and 782 may include datacapture and recording devices. In these examples, the drone devices 780and 782 may include one or more cameras, one or more motion sensors, oneor more microphones, one or more biometric data collection tools, one ormore temperature sensors, one or more humidity sensors, one or more airflow sensors, and/or any other types of sensors that may be useful incapturing monitoring data related to the property location.

In some implementations, the drone devices 780 and 782 may includeoutput devices. In these implementations, the drone devices 780 and 782may include one or more displays, one or more speakers, one or moreprojectors, and/or any type of output devices that allow the dronedevices 780 and 782 to communicate information to a nearby user. The oneor more projectors may include projectors that project a two-dimensionalimage onto a surface (e.g., wall, floor, or ceiling) and/or holographicprojectors that project three-dimensional holograms into a nearby space.

The drone devices 780 and 782 also may include a communication modulethat enables the drone devices 780 and 782 to communicate with themonitoring application server 760, each other, and/or other devices. Thecommunication module may be a wireless communication module that allowsthe drone devices 780 and 782 to communicate wirelessly. For instance,the communication module may be a Wi-Fi module that enables the dronedevices 780 and 782 to communicate over a local wireless network at theproperty. The communication module further may be a 900 MHz wirelesscommunication module that enables the drone devices 780 and 782 tocommunicate directly with the monitoring application server 760. Othertypes of short-range wireless communication protocols, such asBluetooth, Bluetooth LE, Zwave, Zigbee, etc., may be used to allow thedrone devices 780 and 782 to communicate with other devices in theproperty.

The drone devices 780 and 782 further may include processor and storagecapabilities. The drone devices 780 and 782 may include any suitableprocessing devices that enable the drone devices 780 and 782 to operateapplications and perform the actions described throughout thisdisclosure. In addition, the drone devices 780 and 782 may include solidstate electronic storage that enables the drone devices 780 and 782 tostore applications, configuration data, collected sensor data, and/orany other type of information available to the drone devices 780 and782.

The drone devices 780 and 782 are associated with one or more chargingstations 790 and 792. The charging stations 790 and 792 may be centrallylocated at predefined base or reference locations near a neighborhoodthat includes multiple properties. For example, in some instances, theone or more charging stations 790 and 792 may be located on a centralmonitoring station where the monitoring application server 760 may belocated. In other examples, the one or more charging stations 790 and792 may be located in a monitoring station that is in a differentlocation than the monitoring application server 760. In someimplementations, the charging station may be mobile, deployable to aparticular location, or the like. For instance, if drones are deployedto a particular location, one or more charging station may be deployedto the same location. The deployed charging stations can be powered fromthe electrical grid, be solar powered, attached to propane gasolinehookups, attached to natural gas hookups, or the like.

The drone devices 780 and 782 may be configured to navigate to thecharging stations 790 and 792 after completion of tasks needed to beperformed for the monitoring system 700. For instance, after completionof a monitoring operation at a particular property location, or uponinstruction by the monitoring application server 760, the drone devices780 and 782 may be configured to automatically fly to and land on one ofthe charging stations 790 and 792. In this regard, the drone devices 780and 782 may automatically maintain a fully charged battery in a state inwhich the drone devices 780 and 782 are ready for use by the monitoringsystem 700.

The charging stations 790 and 792 may be contact based charging stationsand/or wireless charging stations. For contact based charging stations,the drone devices 780 and 782 may have readily accessible points ofcontact that the drone devices 780 and 782 are capable of positioningand mating with a corresponding contact on the charging station. Forinstance, a helicopter type drone device may have an electronic contacton a portion of its landing gear that rests on and mates with anelectronic pad of a charging station when the helicopter type dronedevice lands on the charging station. The electronic contact on thedrone device may include a cover that opens to expose the electroniccontact when the drone device is charging and closes to cover andinsulate the electronic contact when the drone device is in operation.

For wireless charging stations, the drone devices 780 and 782 may chargethrough a wireless exchange of power. In these cases, the drone devices780 and 782 need only locate themselves closely enough to the wirelesscharging stations for the wireless exchange of power to occur. In thisregard, the positioning needed to land at a predefined home base orreference location in the property may be less precise than with acontact based charging station. Based on the drone devices 780 and 782landing at a wireless charging station, the wireless charging stationoutputs a wireless signal that the drone devices 780 and 782 receive andconvert to a power signal that charges a battery maintained on the dronedevices 780 and 782.

In some implementations, the drone devices 780 and 782 may additionallybe used to perform routine surveillance operations on a propertylocation. For instance, the drone devices 780 and 782 may be assigned toone or more particular properties within a geographic location and mayroutinely collect surveillance footage during specified time periods(e.g., after dark), which may then be transmitted to the monitoringapplication server 760 for transmitting back to each particular propertyowner. In such implementations, the property owner may receive thesurveillance footage over the network 705 as a part of a serviceprovided by a security provider that operates the monitoring applicationserver 760. For example, transmissions of the surveillance footagecollected by the drone devices 780 and 782 may be part of a premiumsecurity service package provided by a security provider in addition tothe routine drone emergency response service.

In some implementations, each of the drone devices 780 and 782 has acorresponding and assigned charging station 790 and 792 such that thenumber of drone devices 780 and 782 equals the number of chargingstations 790 and 792. In these implementations, the drone devices 780and 782 always navigate to the specific charging station assigned tothat drone device. For instance, the drone device 780 may always usechanging station 790 and the drone device 782 may always use changingstation 792.

In some implementations, the drone devices 780 and 782 may sharecharging stations. For instance, the drone devices 780 and 782 may useone or more community charging stations that are capable of chargingmultiple drone devices 780 and 782. The community charging station maybe configured to charge multiple drone devices 780 and 782 in parallel.The community charging station may be configured to charge multipledrone devices 780 and 782 in serial such that the multiple drone devices780 and 782 take turns charging and, when fully charged, return to apredefined home base or reference location in the property that is notassociated with a charger. The number of community charging stations maybe less than the number of drone devices 780 and 782.

The charging stations 790 and 792 may be co-housed or placed nearbylocations where alarm stations for properties may be located. Forexample, in some instances, the charging stations 790 and 792 may beplaced within a particular location near a property such that the dronedevices 780 and 782 may respond to an alarm signal generated by thealarm system of the property. In other instances, the charging stations790 and 792 may be placed in particular locations within a community andconfigured to store drone devices 780 and 782 that service multipleproperties within the community. For example, the charging stations 790and 792 may be placed near elevated regions within a community such thatthe drone devices 780 and 782 may descend to a particular locationwithin the community in response to an alarm event at the particularlocation within the community.

In some implementations, the charging stations 790 and 792 mayadditionally include solar panels to charge the drone devices 780 and782 to conserve energy needed to charge the drone devices 780 and 782.In such implementations, the charging stations 790 and 792 may includecontrollers that are capable in adjusting the power source to the dronedevices 780 and 782 to modulate charging speeds. For example, thecharging stations 790 and 792 may use a high energy power source tocharge the drone devices 780 and 782 at high speeds in anticipation ofhigh volume of alarm events, and use a low energy power source to chargethe drone devices 780 and 782 at low speeds during times when there is alow volume of alarm events (e.g., during times of low user activity).

Also, the charging stations 790 and 792 may not be assigned to specificdrone devices 780 and 782 and may be capable of charging any of thedrone devices 780 and 782. In this regard, the drone devices 780 and 782may use any suitable, unoccupied charging station when not in use. Forinstance, when one of the drone devices 780 and 782 has completed anoperation or is in need of battery charge, the monitoring system controlunit 710 references a stored table of the occupancy status of eachcharging station and instructs the drone device to navigate to thenearest charging station that is unoccupied.

The sensors 720, the module 722, the camera 730, and the drone devices780 and 782 communicate with the controller 712 over communication links724, 726, and 728. The communication links 724, 726, and 728 may be awired or wireless data pathway configured to transmit signals from thesensors 720, the module 722, the camera 730, and the drone devices 780and 782 to the controller 712. The sensors 720, the module 722, thecamera 730, and the drone devices 780 and 782 may continuously transmitsensed values to the controller 712, periodically transmit sensed valuesto the controller 712, or transmit sensed values to the controller 712in response to a change in a sensed value.

The communication links 724, 726, and 728 may include a local network.The sensors 720, the module 722, the camera 730, and the drone devices780 and 782 and the controller 712 may exchange data and commands overthe local network. The local network may include 802.11 “WiFi” wirelessEthernet (e.g., using low-power WiFi chipsets), Z-Wave, Zigbee,Bluetooth, “Homeplug” or other “Powerline” networks that operate over ACwiring, and a Category 5 (CAT5) or Category 6 (CAT6) wired Ethernetnetwork. The local network may be a mesh network constructed based onthe devices connected to the mesh network.

The monitoring application server 760 is an electronic device configuredto provide alarm monitoring service by exchanging communications withthe monitoring system control unit 710, the one or more mobile devices740, 750, and the monitoring application server 760 over the network705. For example, the monitoring application server 760 may beconfigured to monitor alarm events generated by the monitoring systemcontrol unit 710. In this example, the monitoring application server 760may exchange communications with the network module 714 included in themonitoring system control unit 710 to receive information regardingalarm events detected by the monitoring system control unit 710. Themonitoring application server 760 also may receive information regardingalarm events from the one or more mobile devices 740, 750 and/or themonitoring station server 770.

In some implementations, the monitoring application server 760 may routealarm data received from the network module 714 or the one or more userdevices 740, 750 to the monitoring station server 770. For example, themonitoring application server 760 may transmit the alarm data to themonitoring station server 770 over the network 705.

The monitoring application server 760 may store sensor and image datareceived from the monitoring system and perform analysis of sensor andimage data received from the monitoring system. Based on the analysis,the monitoring application server 760 may communicate with and controlaspects of the monitoring system control unit 710 or the one or moreuser devices 740, 750.

The monitoring application server 760 is connected to multipleterminals. The terminals may be used by operators to process alarmevents. For example, the monitoring application server 760 may routealarm data to the terminals to enable an operator to process the alarmdata. The terminals may include general-purpose computers (e.g., desktoppersonal computers, workstations, or laptop computers) that areconfigured to receive alarm data from a server in the monitoringapplication server 760 and render a display of information based on thealarm data. For instance, the controller 712 may control the networkmodule 714 to transmit, to the monitoring application server 760, alarmdata indicating that a sensor 720 detected a door opening when themonitoring system was armed. The monitoring application server 760 mayreceive the alarm data and route the alarm data to the terminal forprocessing by an operator associated with the terminal. The terminal mayrender a display to the operator that includes information associatedwith the alarm event (e.g., the name of the user of the alarm system,the address of the building the alarm system is monitoring, the type ofalarm event, etc.) and the operator may handle the alarm event based onthe displayed information.

In some implementations, the terminals may be mobile devices or devicesdesigned for a specific function. Although FIG. 7 illustrates twoterminals for brevity, actual implementations may include more (and,perhaps, many more) terminals.

In some implementations, the monitoring application server 760 mayexchange communications with an emergency service provider to transmitalarm signal data indicating an alarm event taking place within aproperty where the monitor control unit 710 may be located. Forinstance, the monitoring application server 760 may transmit incidentreports in response to the monitor control unit 710 detecting an alarmevent where a user requires emergency assistance. In such instances, themonitoring application server 760 may be an electronic device thatcommunicates essential safety information to an emergency responder suchas an emergency medial responder, a fire department, or a public safetyaccess point.

In some implementations, the monitoring application server 760 may be athird party entity separate from the monitoring station server 760. Forexample, the monitoring application server 760 may be a central alarmstation for a security service provider, a campus security server in aschool or school/university police department, or security gateway for aparticular residential neighborhood. For instance, the monitoringapplication server 760 may be registered to the system 700 using aconnection bridge such as the application (e.g., the native surveillanceapplication 742), using a unique user identifier such as a username andpassword or a Quick Response (QR). In other instances, the monitoringapplication server 760 may be registered to users within a particulargeographic location (e.g., a gated residential community) where userswithin the geographical location are registered to a particularmonitoring application server 760 and a particular monitoring stationserver 770 of the particular location.

The one or more user devices 740, 750 are devices that host and displayuser interfaces. For instance, the user device 740 is a mobile devicethat hosts one or more native applications (e.g., the nativesurveillance application 742). The user device 740 may be a cellularphone or a non-cellular locally networked device with a display. Theuser device 740 may include a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet PC, apersonal digital assistant (“PDA”), or any other portable deviceconfigured to communicate over a network and display information. Forexample, implementations may also include Blackberry-type devices (e.g.,as provided by Research in Motion), electronic organizers, iPhone-typedevices (e.g., as provided by Apple), iPod devices (e.g., as provided byApple) or other portable music players, other communication devices, andhandheld or portable electronic devices for gaming, communications,and/or data organization. The user device 740 may perform functionsunrelated to the monitoring system, such as placing personal telephonecalls, playing music, playing video, displaying pictures, browsing theInternet, maintaining an electronic calendar, etc.

The user device 740 includes a native surveillance application 742. Thenative surveillance application 742 refers to a software/firmwareprogram running on the corresponding mobile device that enables the userinterface and features described throughout. The user device 740 mayload or install the native surveillance application 742 based on datareceived over a network or data received from local media. The nativesurveillance application 742 runs on mobile devices platforms, such asiPhone, iPod touch, Blackberry, Google Android, Windows Mobile, etc. Thenative surveillance application 742 enables the user device 740 toreceive and process image and sensor data from the monitoring system.

The user device 750 may be a general-purpose computer (e.g., a desktoppersonal computer, a workstation, or a laptop computer) that isconfigured to communicate with the monitoring application server 760and/or the monitoring system control unit 710 over the network 705. Theuser device 750 may be configured to display a surveillance monitoringuser interface 752 that is generated by the user device 750 or generatedby the monitoring application server 760. For example, the user device750 may be configured to display a user interface (e.g., a web page)provided by the monitoring application server 760 that enables a user toperceive images captured by the camera 730 and/or reports related to themonitoring system. Although FIG. 7 illustrates two user devices forbrevity, actual implementations may include more (and, perhaps, manymore) or fewer user devices.

In some implementations, the one or more user devices 740, 750communicate with and receive monitoring system data from the monitoringsystem control unit 710 using the communication link 738. For instance,the one or more user devices 740, 750 may communicate with themonitoring system control unit 710 using various local wirelessprotocols such as wifi, Bluetooth, zwave, zigbee, HomePlug (ethernetover powerline), or wired protocols such as Ethernet and USB, to connectthe one or more user devices 740, 750 to local security and automationequipment. The one or more user devices 740, 750 may connect locally tothe monitoring system and its sensors and other devices. The localconnection may improve the speed of status and control communicationsbecause communicating through the network 105 with a remote server(e.g., the monitoring application server 760) may be significantlyslower.

Although the one or more user devices 740, 750 are shown ascommunicating with the monitoring system control unit 710, the one ormore user devices 740, 750 may communicate directly with the sensors andother devices controlled by the monitoring system control unit 710. Insome implementations, the one or more user devices 740, 750 replace themonitoring system control unit 710 and perform the functions of themonitoring system control unit 710 for local monitoring and longrange/offsite communication.

In other implementations, the one or more user devices 740, 750 receivemonitoring system data captured by the monitoring system control unit710 through the network 705. The one or more user devices 740, 750 mayreceive the data from the monitoring system control unit 710 through thenetwork 705 or the monitoring application server 760 may relay datareceived from the monitoring system control unit 710 to the one or moreuser devices 740, 750 through the network 705. In this regard, themonitoring application server 760 may facilitate communication betweenthe one or more user devices 740, 750 and the monitoring system.

In some implementations, the one or more user devices 740, 750 may beconfigured to switch whether the one or more user devices 740, 750communicate with the monitoring system control unit 710 directly (e.g.,through link 738) or through the monitoring application server 760(e.g., through network 705) based on a location of the one or more userdevices 740, 750. For instance, when the one or more user devices 740,750 are located close to the monitoring system control unit 710 and inrange to communicate directly with the monitoring system control unit710, the one or more user devices 740, 750 use direct communication.When the one or more user devices 740, 750 are located far from themonitoring system control unit 710 and not in range to communicatedirectly with the monitoring system control unit 710, the one or moreuser devices 740, 750 use communication through the monitoringapplication server 760.

Although the one or more user devices 740, 750 are shown as beingconnected to the network 105, in some implementations, the one or moreuser devices 740, 750 are not connected to the network 705. In theseimplementations, the one or more user devices 740, 750 communicatedirectly with one or more of the monitoring system components and nonetwork (e.g., Internet) connection or reliance on remote servers isneeded.

In some implementations, the one or more user devices 740, 750 are usedin conjunction with only local sensors and/or local devices in a house.In these implementations, the system 700 only includes the one or moreuser devices 740, 750, the sensors 720, the module 722, the camera 730,and the drone devices 780 and 782. The one or more user devices 740, 750receive data directly from the sensors 720, the module 722, the camera730, and the drone devices 780 and 782 and sends data directly to thesensors 720, the module 722, the camera 730, and the drone devices 780and 782. The one or more user devices 740, 750 provide the appropriateinterfaces/processing to provide visual surveillance and reporting.

In other implementations, the system 700 further includes network 705and the sensors 720, the module 722, the camera 730, and the dronedevices 780 and 782 are configured to communicate sensor and image datato the one or more user devices 740, 750 over network 705 (e.g., theInternet, cellular network, etc.). In yet another implementation, thesensors 720, the module 722, the camera 730, and the drone devices 780and 782 (or a component, such as a bridge/router) are intelligent enoughto change the communication pathway from a direct local pathway when theone or more user devices 740, 750 are in close physical proximity to thesensors 720, the module 722, the camera 730, and the drone devices 780and 782 to a pathway over network 705 when the one or more user devices740, 750 are farther from the sensors 720, the module 722, the camera730, and the drone devices 780 and 782. In some implementations, thesystem leverages GPS information from the one or more user devices 740,750 to determine whether the one or more user devices 740, 750 are closeenough to the sensors 720, the module 722, the camera 730, and the dronedevices 780 and 782 to use the direct local pathway or whether the oneor more user devices 740, 750 are far enough from the sensors 720, themodule 722, the camera 730, and the drone devices 780 and 782 that thepathway over network 705 is required. In other examples, the systemleverages status communications (e.g., pinging) between the one or moreuser devices 740, 750 and the sensors 720, the module 722, the camera730, and the drone devices 780 and 782 to determine whethercommunication using the direct local pathway is possible. Ifcommunication using the direct local pathway is possible, the one ormore user devices 740, 750 communicate with the sensors 720, the module722, the camera 730, and the drone devices 780 and 782 using the directlocal pathway. If communication using the direct local pathway is notpossible, the one or more user devices 740, 750 communicate with thesensors 720, the module 722, the camera 730, and the drone devices 780and 782 using the pathway over network 705.

In some implementations, the system 700 provides end users with accessto images captured by the camera 730 to aid in decision making. Thesystem 700 may transmit the images captured by the camera 730 over awireless WAN network to the user devices 740, 750. Because transmissionover a wireless WAN network may be relatively expensive, the system 700uses several techniques to reduce costs while providing access tosignificant levels of useful visual information.

In some implementations, a state of the monitoring system and otherevents sensed by the monitoring system may be used to enable/disablevideo/image recording devices (e.g., the camera 730). In theseimplementations, the camera 730 may be set to capture images on aperiodic basis when the alarm system is armed in an “Away” state, butset not to capture images when the alarm system is armed in a “Stay”state or disarmed. In addition, the camera 730 may be triggered to begincapturing images when the alarm system detects an event, such as analarm event, a door opening event for a door that leads to an areawithin a field of view of the camera 730, or motion in the area withinthe field of view of the camera 730. In other implementations, thecamera 130 may capture images continuously, but the captured images maybe stored or transmitted over a network when needed.

Further, in some implementations, the system 700 intelligently leveragesthe drone devices 780 and 782 to aid in security monitoring, propertyautomation, and property management. For example, the drone devices 780and 782 may aid in investigating alarm events detected at the propertyby the monitoring system control unit 710. In this example, themonitoring system control unit 710 may detect an alarm event (e.g., afire alarm, an entry into the property when the system is armed “Stay,”etc.) and, based on the detected alarm event, control the drone devices780 and 782 to attempt to identify persons in the property at the timeof the alarm event. Specifically, the monitoring application server 760may send a control command to each of the drone devices 780 and 782 thatcauses the drone devices 780 and 782 to perform a coordinated andautomated search for persons outside the property. Based on the controlcommand received, each of the drone devices 780 and 782 beginsnavigating towards the property and captures images of the propertywhile navigating. Each of the drone devices 780 and 782 may execute apredefined navigation pattern outside the property or the drone devices780 and 782 may execute a coordinated scan of the property in which thedrone devices 780 and 782 exchange location information and navigate toareas that have not been explored by one of the other devices.

In some implementations, the drone devices 780 and 782 may analyze theimages captured during the scan of the property for the presence ofpersons in the captured images. For instance, the drone devices 780 and782 may use image processing techniques in an attempt to identify shapesin the captured images that resemble a human body. The drone devices 780and 782 also may analyze the images for moving objects (or use othertechniques to identify moving objects) and target imaging on capture ofmoving objects.

Based on detection of a human or a moving object, the drone devices 780and 782 may lock onto the human or moving object and follow the human ormoving object throughout the property. In this regard, the drone devices780 and 782 may follow the human or moving object throughout theproperty and capture images of the movement. In addition, once one ofthe drone devices 780 and 782 locks onto a human or moving object, thedrone devices 780 and 782 coordinate to ensure that multiple of thedrone devices 780 and 782 do not lock onto the same human or movingobject. The coordination may be direct amongst the drone devices 780 and782 and/or through the monitoring system control unit 710. Thecoordination may involve sharing the location of the human or movingobject and/or attributes of the human or moving object being imaged.Based on the shared location and attributes, the drone devices 780 and782 may determine whether multiple drone devices 780 and 782 have lockedonto the same object and take action accordingly. If the drone devices780 and 782 determine that the drone devices 780 and 782 have not lockedonto the same object, the appropriate one of the drone devices 780 and782 continues to lock onto the object while the other drone devices scanother areas of the property for other objects. If the drone devices 780and 782 determine that the drone devices 780 and 782 have locked ontothe same object, the drone devices 780 and 782 negotiate to determinewhich of the drone devices 780 and 782 will continue to lock onto theobject while the other drone devices stop locking onto the object andscan other areas of the property for other objects. The negotiation mayselect the drone device that continues tracking the object based on oneor more factors including the timing of when the devices locked onto theobject (e.g., which device locked onto the object first), thepositioning of the devices relative to the object (e.g., which is bestpositioned to image the object), the amount of battery power remaining(e.g., the device with the most battery power remaining), or any otherfactor that indicates the device most suited to track the object. To theextent the device tracking an object becomes less suitable for trackingthe object (e.g., the battery power is running low), the drone devices780 and 782 may coordinate to hand off tracking of the object to anotherone of the drone devices 780 and 782.

In some implementations, the drone devices 780 and 782 perform imagerecognition processing on the one or more images in an attempt to detectwhether any identified humans are legitimate users of the property orintruders. In these examples, the drone devices 780 and 782 may haveaccess to images of legitimate users of the property and may compareimages being captured to the accessed images of legitimate users. Basedon the comparison, the drone devices 780 and 782 use facial recognitiontechniques to determine whether the imaged user matches a legitimateuser of the property or an intruder. The drone devices 780 and 782 thenuse the determination of whether the imaged user matches a legitimateuser of the property or an intruder to control further trackingoperation.

For example, based on a determination that the imaged user is anintruder, the drone devices 780 and 782 may continue tracking theintruder and ensure that images sufficient to identify the intruder havebeen captured. In this example, the drone devices 780 and 782 mayattempt to capture biometric data from the intruder, such as voiceprintdata, fingerprint data, and/or biological samples with DNA of theintruder. In addition, the drone devices 780 and 782 may take action tothwart the purpose of the intruder. For example, the drone devices 780and 782 may fly in random patterns around the intruder, may play loudsounds near the intruder, may shine lights near the intruder, may outputidentifying information collected about the intruder (e.g., male, aroundsix feet tall and one hundred eighty pounds), may enable a drone basestation operator or first responder to talk to the intruder through atwo-way voice communication session established through the monitoringsystem control unit 710 and the drone device, and may take other actionsdirected to disrupting the intruder.

Alternatively, based on a determination that the imaged user is alegitimate user, the drone devices 780 and 782 may discontinue trackingthe legitimate user and scan for intruders. The drone devices 780 and782 also may report the location of the legitimate user. The dronedevices 780 and 782 further may continue tracking the legitimate userand attempt to provide assistance to the user. For instance, if thealarm is a fire alarm event, the drone devices 780 and 782 may stay nearthe legitimate user, continuously or periodically update the location ofthe legitimate user to assist another user or first responder in helpingthe legitimate user, provide audible reminders of what types of actionsshould be taken in a fire, enable a drone base station operator or firstresponder to talk to the legitimate user through a two-way voicecommunication session established through the monitoring system controlunit 710 and the drone device, and may take other actions directed toassisting the legitimate user.

In some implementations, the drone devices 780 and 782 may be assignedto different areas of the property where the drone devices 780 and 782can move in an unobstructed manner. In these examples, the drone devices780 and 782 may be assigned to different levels in a property (e.g., anupstairs drone device and a downstairs drone device) and even differentrooms or sections that are potentially blocked by doors. The monitoringsystem control unit 710 coordinate tracking movement based on theassigned areas. For instance, the monitoring system control unit 710determines areas in a property where an event has been detected (e.g.,where motion is sensed, where a door or window is opened, etc.) and onlycontrols the drone devices assigned to the determined areas to operate.In this regard, the monitoring system control unit 710 may use locationof users determined using sensors to control operation of the dronedevices 780 and 782.

In some implementations, the monitoring application server 760 maymonitor operational status of the drone devices 780 and 782 andcoordinate further operation based on the operational status. In theseimplementations, the monitoring application server 760 may detect that aparticular drone device is no longer operational and control one or moreother drone devices to perform operations originally assigned to thenon-operational drone device. In addition, the monitoring applicationserver 760 may determine that the non-operational drone device wasnavigating close to an intruder and received an impact based onaccelerometer data prior to becoming non-operational. In this case, themonitoring application server 760 may infer that the drone device wassmashed by the intruder and control other drone devices based on theinference. For instance, after inferring a smash event, the monitoringapplication server 760 may control operation of other drone devices tomaintain distance from the intruder by only flying high overhead.

In some implementations, the monitoring application server 760 maydetermine battery power available for each of the drone devices 780 and782 and coordinate operation of the drone devices 780 and 782 based onavailable battery power. In these implementations, the drone devices 780and 782 may report battery power remaining to the monitoring applicationserver 760 and the monitoring application server 760 may determine asubset of the drone devices 780 and 782 to deploy based on the batterypower information. For instance, the monitoring application server 760may select to initially deploy the drone device with the most availablebattery power to allow the other drone devices to charge while theselected device assists with monitoring. Once the battery power for theselected device falls below a threshold, the monitoring applicationserver 760 may return the selected device to a charging station andselect the drone device with the presently highest available batterypower to resume the monitoring options being performed. The monitoringapplication server 760 may cycle through all of the drone devices 780and 782 in an intelligent manner that best leverages the battery poweravailable. If the battery power of a device becomes too low toeffectively operate as a navigating device, the monitoring applicationserver 760 may control the drone device to remain stationary and act asa stationary camera or other sensor to still assist with monitoring,although the added benefit of navigation no longer exists.

In addition to battery, the monitoring application server 760 may selectthe drone device to deploy and what action to take based on the sensorthat triggered the event, a time of day, and a state of the system. Forinstance, if the monitoring application server 760 detects an unusualmotion sensor event, the monitoring application server 760 may selectthe nearest drone device to navigate to an area of the property wheremotion was detected and investigate. Alternatively, if the monitoringapplication server 760 detects a critical alarm event (e.g., a securitybreach of a system armed stay, a fire alarm, a carbon monoxide alarm,etc.), the monitoring application server 760 may deploy all dronedevices 780 and 782 at any time of the day. If the monitoringapplication server 760 detects an intrusion breach, the monitoringapplication server 760 may assign some devices to “attack” the intruderby disrupting the purpose of the intruder and collecting identifyinginformation for the intruder and assign some devices to search for otherusers in the property. The selected devices and actions taken may varybased on sensor data, time of day, and the state of the monitoringsystem.

In some implementations, the system 700 allows drone base stationoperators, first responders, and/or users of the property to interactwith and control the drone devices 780 and 782. In theseimplementations, a drone base station operator, first responder, or userof the property may provide input to control the drone devices 780 and782 in a manner that best assists with monitoring and investigation ofdetected events. For instance, the drone base station operator, firstresponder, or user of the property may remotely control navigation ofthe drone devices 180 and 782. The drone base station operator, firstresponder, or user of the property also may provide general commandsrelated to actions the drone devices 780 and 782 are designed to take.In response to these general commands, the drone devices 780 and 782 mayautomatically perform the desired actions, such as following aninstruction to explore the property or following an instruction tonavigate to an upstairs bedroom.

In some implementations, the drone devices 780 and 782 may periodicallyperform test sequences to ensure the drone devices 780 and 782 willoperate correctly if needed. In these examples, the drone devices 780and 782 may periodically navigate predefined navigation patterns used toinvestigate the property and/or may navigate around the property in ascanning sequence. The drone devices 780 and 782 may determine whetherthe test sequences perform correctly or whether an error occurs thatprevents full investigation of the property. To the extent an erroroccurs, the drone devices 780 and 782 report the error and enable a userof the property or a technician to correct the error prior to a timewhen the drone devices 780 and 782 would be needed for safetymonitoring.

The monitoring application server 760 also may arrange the testsequences to occur during periods of time that are convenient for usersof the property. For example, the monitoring application server 760 mayassess sensor data at the property and determine a time period in whichthe property is unoccupied and unlikely to be occupied until the testsequences complete. In this example, the monitoring application server760 waits until the preferred time period to initiate test sequences forone or more of the drone devices 780 and 782.

In some implementations, the drone devices 780 and 782 may be used toprovide a critical alert to a user in the property or attempt to wake asleeping person as appropriate. In these examples, none of the users maybe responding to a critical alert and, in response, the monitoringapplication server 760 may control the drone devices 780 and 782 tosearch for a person in the property and provide the critical alert veryclose to an identified person in a manner that is highly likely to gainthe person's attention to the critical alert. In the event that theperson appears to be sleeping in the property, the drone devices 780 and782 may attempt to wake the person by providing loud input very near theperson and/or by making contact with the person. In this regard, thedrone devices 780 and 782 may be useful in waking a sleeping person whena fire or carbon monoxide alarm has been detected and the person needsto leave the property. The drone devices 780 and 782 also may determinewhen a person is nonresponsive (e.g., unconscious) and may be need ofimmediate assistance. Also, the drone devices 780 and 782 may serve asan alarm clock for critical meetings based on a person having troublewaking up using traditional alarm clocks.

In some implementations, the drone devices 780 and 782 may be operatedindependently of the monitoring application server 760. For instance, insuch implementations, the drone devices 780 and 782 may be operatedlocally by a community-based organization (e.g., neighborhood watch)that provides local security and surveillance of a neighborhood withouta security provider. In such implementations, the drone devices 780 and782 may be configured to exchange communications with each of themonitor control units 710 associated with the properties within theneighborhood. In this regard, the drone devices 780 and 782 may be usedto provide surveillance of properties within a neighborhood without theuse of a security provider.

In some implementations, the monitoring station server 770 may perform averification operation prior to deploying the drone devices 780 and 782to a property location in response to a detecting a potential securityevent. For instance, the monitoring station server 770 may deploy thedrone devices 780 and 782 routinely to capture video footage of theneighborhood over particular time periods (e.g., weekly, monthly, etc.).In such instances, the video footage may be used to determine commonroutines within the property such as time periods of elevated trafficpatterns, or susceptible locations such that during a potential securityevent, the monitoring station server 770 may calculate a likelihood thatthe potential security event is an actual security event based on videofootage from routine surveillance. For example, the monitoring stationserver 770 may also call individuals associated with the location orgather information and then transmit the information to firstresponders. In other instances, if the drone devices 780 and 782determines that the potential security event at a particular location isa false positive, than the user at the location may have an option tosend the drone devices 780 and 782 back to the drone base station.

In other implementations, in addition to performing routine surveillanceof the neighborhood, the monitoring station server 770 may accessadditional information about the neighborhood from third party sources.For example, the monitoring station server 770 may use the data togenerate a statistical model that is used to determine whether thepotential security event is an actual security event. In this regard,the statistical model may use attributes associated with the communityto verify the validity of a security event to prevent false positivesand conserve energy associated with deploying the drone devices 780 and782 to a particular location.

In some implementations, the system 700 may be used to detect poweroutages within a neighborhood. For example, in response to detectingdecreased power use, loss of cellular coverage, or change in userbehavior at a particular location within the neighborhood, themonitoring station server 770 may deploy the drones 780 and 782 togather information that may indicate whether maintenance service may beneeded to resolve an infrastructure problem. In this regard, the system700 may leverage the detection and surveillance capabilities of themonitoring station server 770 and the drone devices 780 and 782 toreduce neighborhood infrastructure maintenance costs.

FIG. 8 is a contextual diagram of an example of a community-based droneaugmented surveillance system that performs surveillance of aneighborhood. For example, the neighborhood 810 may be a municipalitywith geographic boundaries specified by, for example, local laws,service providers, or postal zip codes. The properties that are includedin the neighborhood 810 may be monitored by drone devices 850 and 851located at a drone base station 820. In some instances, the dronedevices 850 and 851 correspond to the drone devices 180 and 182,respectively, as described previously with respect to FIG. 7.

The neighborhood 810 may include different types of properties such as,for example, private homes (e.g., properties 812 and 814), public placessuch as parks (e.g., property 816), office buildings (e.g., property818), or other types of properties that are commonly included within amunicipality. The neighborhood 810 may also include the drone basestation 820, which provides monitoring and surveillance of theproperties within the neighborhood 810. In some instances, theneighborhood 810 may house the monitoring station server 770, asdiscussed previously with respect to FIG. 7.

The drone base station 820 may be used to coordinate the operation,movement, deployment, of the drone devices 850 and 851. For example, insome instances, the drone base station 820 may house thousands of dronedevices that may be used for different purposes (e.g., surveillance,safety monitoring, alarm response, information extraction, etc.). Insuch instances, the central alarm station may include computing devicesthat use cloud-based software to gather information related to the dronedevices 850 and 851, events or activities taking place within theneighborhood 810, external conditions (e.g., weather and trafficconditions) of various locations within the neighborhood 810, andoperational statuses of key organizations (e.g., first responders, lawenforcement, hospitals) to management deployment of the drone devices850 and 851. In this regard, the drone base station 820 may aggregatedata from various sources to effectively and efficiently operate thedrone devices 850 and 851 with respect to neighborhood 810.

In some implementations, the drone base station 820 may include anelevated platform to house the drone devices 850 and 851. For example,the elevated platform may include features such as, for example,cellular monitoring, and pneumatic control to open roof of the dronebase station 820. In some instances, the drone base station 820 mayadditionally include computing devices that gather information relatedto the deployment paths of the drone devices 850 and 851. For example,the computer devices may track the patterns of the drone devices 850 and851 to determine fastest or most energy-efficient routes to get toparticular locations within the neighborhood 820. In other examples, thecomputer devices may extract the data from the drone devices 850 and 851after a deployment while the drone devices 850 and 851 are being chargedat the drone base station 820.

The drone devices 850 and 851 may be stored at the drone base station820. For example, in some instances, the drone base station 820 mayinclude the charging stations 190 and 192 as described with respect toFIG. 7. In such instances, the drone devices 850 and 851 may be deployedfrom the drone base station 820 to the locations of the properties 812,814, 816, or 818. For example, the drone devices 850 and 851 may bedeployed to the location of one of the properties 812, 814, 816, or 818in response to a detected security event that creates a safety hazard atthe location.

In some implementations, the drone devices 850 and 851 may be used forapplications other than ensuring safety within the neighborhood 810. Forinstance, the drones 850 and 851 may be used to help local authoritiessearch for particular objects, lost kids, wandering or lost mentallydisabled persons, lost pets, individuals that are suspected to belocated within the neighborhood 820, or the like. For example, the dronedevices 850 and 851 may be used to search for cars and other inanimateobjects of interest and identify outward attributes associated withobjects (e.g., license plates on vehicles). In other instances, thedrone devices 850 and 851 may be used to collect information from suchsearching operations and perform data aggregation techniques tocalculate trends associated with the neighborhood 820. For example, thedrone devices 850 and 851 may be deployed during rush hour traffic todetermine routine traffic volumes entering and exiting the boundaries ofthe neighborhood 820, distinguish between cars that are owned byresidents and non-residents, determine relevant information to collectbased on previous security events, provide a list of strange vehicles,or cross-reference the collected information against public databases todetermine other types of potential safety risks.

In some implementations, the drone devices 850 and 851 may be used toselectively monitor certain properties within the neighborhood 810 whilenot performing surveillance on other properties within the neighborhood810. For example, in some instance, the users of the properties withinthe neighborhood 810 may create user accounts that specify particulartypes of surveillance operations that they would like to receive. Insuch instances, an account number may be associated with the propertieson a map of the neighborhood 810 to enable the drone devices 850 and 851to identify properties that are associated with account numbers. Forexample, if a user account associated with a particular propertyspecifies that no recording of the property, then the drone devices 850and 851 may adjust the route taken during a surveillance operation,based on the map of the neighborhood 810 to avoid recording theparticular property.

In some implementations, the drone devices 850 and 851 may be operatedalong with an aberration engine that determines the occurrence of anaberration event within the neighborhood 810. For example, the dronedevices may be deployed to a particular location where the aberrationevent takes place. In this regard, the drone devices 850 and 851 may beused to investigate events that may cause potential problems within theneighborhood 810.

In some implementations, the drone devices 850 and 851 may be used invarious commercial broadcasting environments within the neighborhood810. For example, the drone devices 850 and 851 may be used in publicevents (e.g., sporting events, concerts) where cameras are used tocapture video footage of the public events. In such implementations, thedrone devices 850 and 851 may be used as a connected camera system thatbroadcasts footage of the public events to the drone base station 820.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example of a process for deploying drones inresponse to a detection of a potential emergency event.

The process 900 may begin when a server such as a monitoring applicationserver 330 receives 910 an emergency event notification associated witha property (910). For example, a server such as a monitoring applicationserver 330 may receive an emergency event notification from one or moremonitor control units such as monitor control unit 316 a that are eachlocated within a respective property. Each emergency event notificationmay be generated by a monitor control unit 316 a based on data receivedfrom one or more sensors located throughout the property 316 associatedwith the monitor control unit 316 a. The emergency event notificationmay be indicative of an existence of an emergency event at the propertyassociated with the monitor control unit that transmitted the emergencyevent notification.

At 920, the server such as monitoring application server 330 maydetermine a type of emergency and a location based on the receivedemergency event notification. For example, a server such as monitoringapplication server 330 may initially determine the type of emergencyevent indicated by the emergency event notification and identify thelocation of the property where the emergency event is taking place. Theserver may determine the type of emergency event by obtaining data inthe emergency event notification, and mapping the obtained data to oneor more emergencies. For example, obtained data may include, forexample, an emergency event identifier comprised of one or more numbers,alphabetic characters, or both that can be mapped to a particularemergency. The mapping between emergency event identifiers andemergencies may be a one-to-one mapping such that each emergency eventidentifier is associated with a particular type of emergency.Alternatively, or in addition, the obtained data may include a sensoridentifier that can be used to determine the type of emergency. Forexample, the server may determine that a sensor identifier correspondsto a power sensor. Accordingly, an emergency event generated by thepower sensor may be determined to be a power outage. Implementationsthat use a sensor identifier to determine the type of emergency may notneed to include an emergency event identifier whose sole purpose is toidentify an emergency type, as the sensor identifier can be used forthis purpose, as described above.

The server such as monitoring application server 330 may also determinethe location of the emergency event based on the emergency eventnotification. For example, in one implementation, the emergency eventnotification may include location data such as a GPS location, a streetaddress, or the like. Alternatively, however, the location of anemergency event may be determined without an explicit inclusion of alocation in the emergency event notification. In such implementations,the location of each sensor may be registered and stored in themonitoring application server at the time of installation (or at somepoint in time after installation). Accordingly, an emergency eventnotification may only include a sensor identifier, which the server canuse to retrieve the location where the sensor that generated the alarmevent notification is located.

At stage 930, the server such as monitoring application server 330 mayidentify one or drone devices that can be deployed to the locationassociated with the emergency event. In one implementation, the servermay identify one or more drones that are equipped with the capabilitiesto respond to the emergency event. For example, if the detectedemergency is a fire emergency, the server may identify one or moredrones 355, 357 that are equipped to fight a fire. Alternatively, or inaddition, the server may identify whether one or more drones 359, 360that are within a threshold distance from the location 316 that isassociated with the emergency event. For example, the monitoringapplication server 330 may determine if one more previously deployeddrones are located within a particular distance from the property wherethe emergency event is taking place.

The process may conclude at 940 with the server transmitting aninstruction to another server at a drone base station, which instructsthe server at the drone base station to deploy the identified one ormore drone devices to the property location associated with theemergency event. For example, the monitoring application server 330 maytransmit a signal to the monitoring station server 320 a to re-deploythe one or more identified drones 359, 360 to the location of theproperty where the alarm event is taking place. The monitoring stationserver 320 a may then transmit an instruction including the location ofthe property and details about the type of emergency event to the one ormore drone devices 359, 360.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example of a process 1000 for deployingdrones in response to a detection of a potential event using informationindicative of common routines of the neighborhood residents.

The process 1000 may begin by obtaining 1010 information related to theroutines of a neighborhood over time. A server such as the monitoringstation server or monitoring application server may instruct one or moredrones to periodically gather information related to the routines ofresidents within the neighborhood. The gathered information may include,for example, video recordings or images of traffic patterns, videorecordings or images of sidewalk traffic patterns, video recordings orimages of common areas such as parks, or the like. Such information maybe accrued and stored overtime in order to create a library ofhistorical information that is indicative of normal routines,characteristics, or the like of a neighborhood.

At 1020, the server may receive information that is indicative of asecurity event or emergency event and a location. For example, theserver may receive a security event notification or an emergency eventnotification that is indicative of a potential event. After receivingthe indication of a potential event and location, the server maydetermine 1030 the likelihood that the potential event is an actualsecurity event or an actual emergency event. Determining 1030 whether apotential event is an actual security event or actual emergency eventmay include comparing one or more types of obtained historicalinformation related to current information related to the property. Forexample, the determining 1030 stage may include comparing (i) ahistorical video showing the common routine in a particular portion of aneighborhood on a particular day of the week at particular time to (i) acurrent video of the same particular portion of the neighborhood on thesame day of the week at the same time. If the comparison shows that thehistorical video is sufficiently different the current video, such aresult may be supportive of the existence of a security event. This isbecause the normal routine of a neighborhood may be disrupted when facedwith responding to a security event or an emergency event. In responseto determining that the potential event is an actual security event oran actual emergency event, transmitting 1040 a deployment instruction toone or more drones to deploy drones to the location of the neighborhoodassociated with the potential event.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an example of a process 1100 for deployingdrones in accordance with customized drone surveillance settings.

The process 1100 may begin when a server such as the monitoringapplication server or a monitoring station server receives 1110customized drone surveillance settings from a resident of aneighborhood. The server may store 1120 the customized dronesurveillance setting in the resident's user profile. The customizabledrone surveillance settings may include, for example, drone surveillancepreferences such as (i) whether a drone can (or cannot) record video ofthe resident's property, (ii) whether a drone can (or cannot) capturestill images of the property, (iii) whether a drone can (or cannot)perform thermal imaging of the property, (iv) whether a drone can (orcannot) enter the within a predetermined distance of the resident'shousing structure, (v) whether a drone can (or cannot) cross theresident's property line, (vi) whether a drone can (or cannot) enter theairspace above the resident's property, or the like. In someimplementations, the customizable drone surveillance settings may beconditional. For instance, a resident may set one or more customizabledrone surveillance settings which can be overridden in the event apredetermined condition is detected.

Prior to deployment, the server may obtain the stored user profiles foreach resident in the neighborhood. The obtained set of stored userprofiles may be installed 1130 into a drone's on-board memory prior tothe drone's receipt of surveillance deployment instructions. The dronemay receive 1140 deployment instructions to surveil the resident'sneighborhood. The deployed drone may begin to travel along apredetermined flight path to perform routine surveillance of theresident's neighborhood. The drone may determine 1150 when the dronearrives within a predetermined threshold distance of a resident'sproperty that is associated with one or more customized dronesurveillance parameters. In response to determining that the drone iswithin a predetermined threshold distance of a resident's property, thedrone may access 1160 the resident's customized drone surveillancesettings. The drone may adjust the drone's predetermined surveillanceflight path, alter the capture settings of the drone's surveillanceequipment tools, or a combination thereof, based on the resident'scustomized drone surveillance parameters.

The described systems, methods, and techniques may be implemented indigital electronic circuitry, computer hardware, firmware, software, orin combinations of these elements. Apparatus implementing thesetechniques may include appropriate input and output devices, a computerprocessor, and a computer program product tangibly embodied in amachine-readable storage device for execution by a programmableprocessor. A process implementing these techniques may be performed by aprogrammable processor executing a program of instructions to performdesired functions by operating on input data and generating appropriateoutput. The techniques may be implemented in one or more computerprograms that are executable on a programmable system including at leastone programmable processor coupled to receive data and instructionsfrom, and to transmit data and instructions to, a data storage system,at least one input device, and at least one output device. Each computerprogram may be implemented in a high-level procedural or object-orientedprogramming language, or in assembly or machine language if desired; andin any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language.Suitable processors include, by way of example, both general and specialpurpose microprocessors. Generally, a processor will receiveinstructions and data from a read-only memory and/or a random accessmemory. Storage devices suitable for tangibly embodying computer programinstructions and data include all forms of non-volatile memory,including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, such asErasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), and flash memory devices;magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks;magneto-optical disks; and Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM). Anyof the foregoing may be supplemented by, or incorporated in, speciallydesigned application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

It will be understood that various modifications may be made. Forexample, other useful implementations could be achieved if steps of thedisclosed techniques were performed in a different order and/or ifcomponents in the disclosed systems were combined in a different mannerand/or replaced or supplemented by other components. Accordingly, otherimplementations are within the scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A monitoring system, comprising: a plurality of monitoring control units, wherein each respective monitoring control unit is (i) associated with a particular property, and (ii) configured to detect an emergency event based on data received from one or more of a plurality of sensors located throughout the particular property; a monitoring application server, wherein the monitoring application server includes: a network interface; one or more processors; and one or more storage devices that include instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: receiving an emergency event notification from a first monitoring control unit of the plurality of monitoring control units; determining, based on the received emergency event notification, (i) a type of emergency event, and (ii) a location associated with the emergency event notification; identifying, based on (i) the type of emergency event, and (ii) the location associated with the emergency event, at least one drone that can be deployed to the location associated with the emergency event; and transmitting an instruction to a monitoring station server associated with a drone base station housing (i) the at least one drone that can be deployed to the location of the emergency event, and (ii) at least one charging station for charging the at least one drone, wherein the instruction instructs the monitoring station server to deploy the identified at least one drone to the location associated with the emergency event.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of drones includes a quad-copter drone.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of drones includes a helicopter drone, a rolling helicopter drone, or a land-based vehicle.
 4. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising: determining one or more drone capabilities that are related to the type of emergency event.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein identifying, based on (i) the type of emergency event, and (ii) the location associated with the emergency event, one or more drones that can be deployed to the location associated with the emergency event includes: identifying one or more drones that are equipped with capabilities to respond to the emergency event.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein at least one of the identified drones is a drone that is currently deployed.
 7. The system of claim 5, wherein at least one of the identified drones is a drone that is currently housed by the drone base station.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein identifying, based on (i) the type of emergency event, and (ii) the location associated with the emergency event, at least one drone that can be deployed to the location associated with the emergency event includes: identifying, based on the location associated with the emergency event, one or more drones that are within a threshold distance of the location associated with the emergency event.
 9. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising: identifying one or more drones that can be deployed based on the state of the monitoring system.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the state of the monitoring system is based on (i) the number of emergency event notifications received from the particular property and (ii) the number of emergency event notifications received from properties within a threshold distance from the particular property.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the emergency event notification is based on alarm signal data from one or more sensors indicating an alarm event has been detected in a property where the first monitor control unit is located.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein one or more sensors include one or more of power sensors, smoke sensors, temperature sensors, or water sensors.
 13. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising: receiving a request to deploy an additional drone from one or more deployed drones; and in response to receiving a request to deploy an additional drone from the one or more deployed drones, instructing the monitoring station server to deploy one or more additional drones currently based at the drone base station.
 14. The system of claim 1, receiving a request to deploy an additional drone from one or more deployed drones; and in response to receiving a request to deploy an additional drone from the one or more deployed drones, instructing one or more currently deployed drones to re-deploy to the location associated with the emergency event.
 15. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising: receiving a second emergency event notification from a second monitoring control unit of the plurality of monitoring control units; receiving a third emergency event notification from a third monitoring control unit of the plurality of monitoring control units; determining, based on the received second emergency event notification, (i) a second type of emergency event, and (ii) a location associated with the second emergency event notification; determining based on the received third emergency event notification, (i) a third type of emergency event, and (ii) a location associated with the third emergency event notification, wherein the location associated with the second emergency event is different than the location associated with the third emergency event.
 16. The system of claim 15, the operations further comprising: identifying, based on (i) the second type of emergency event, and (ii) the location associated with the second emergency event, a second set of one or more drones that can be deployed to the location associated with the second emergency event; and transmitting an instruction to the monitoring station server to deploy the second set of one or more identified drones to the location associated with the emergency event.
 17. The system of claim 15, the operations further comprising: identifying, based on (i) the third type of emergency event, and (ii) the location associated with the third emergency event, a third set of one or more drones that can be deployed to the location associated with the third emergency event; and transmitting an instruction to the monitoring station server to deploy the third set of one or more identified drones to the location associated with the emergency event.
 18. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one drone includes a plurality of drones.
 19. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one charging station for charging the at least one drone is deployable. 